高能暂现源 · 每日文献综述

Pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments are searching for gravitational waves (GWs) in the nanohertz band. The primary GW sources targeted by PTAs include populations of inspiralling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in the local Universe, some of which may emit detectable continuous gravitational-wave (CGW) signals. In this paper, we focus on the detection strategy for individual binaries on eccentric orbits. Using simulated datasets based on the EPTA DR2new configuration, we perform injection-recovery studies across the parameter space. We demonstrate that individual component masses can be measured when an eccentric SMBHB is detected at high GW frequencies. We further show a correlation between the CGW signal and the stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) at low frequencies, which makes CGW identification challenging. Finally, the developed software is GPU-compatible, enabling efficient Bayesian inference. This work lays the groundwork for future applications to real PTA data.

Spectral gamma-ray line features are expected as key signatures from dark matter (DM) annihilations of TeV-scale particle DM. Observations of the Galactic Centre with atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes are unique to probe thermal-relic TeV particle DM, well beyond the reach of direct detection and collider searches. We report here on the search for line signals in very-high-energy gamma rays using data from the Inner Galaxy Survey, consisting of 546 hours of H.E.S.S. observations of the inner few degrees of the Galactic Centre. No significant signal is detected. We then compute the exclusion limits on the annihilation line cross section $\langle σv \rangle_{\rm line}$, with a two-dimensional log-likelihood ratio test statistics, exploiting spectral and spatial features of the DM signal. Assuming an Einasto DM density profile for the Milky Way, our results provide the most constraining limits so far, reaching $\langle σv \rangle_{\rm line} = 2.3$ $\times$ $10^{-28}$ and $2.4 \times$ $10^{-27}$ cm$^3$s$^{-1}$ for DM masses of 1 and 10 TeV, respectively. The present limits are used to constrain the widely searched Wino, Higgsino and Quintuplet models. For the first time, thermal Higgsino DM is probed for DM Milky Way models.

According to the no-hair theorem, the multipole moments of an electrically neutral black hole in general relativity are entirely determined by its mass and spin. However, this is not in general true for compact objects: The multipole moments of neutron stars or exotic compact objects can depend on their formation history and internal processes, which are encoded in an equation of state. Furthermore, their spin-induced multipole moments differ from those of black holes of the same mass and spin, leaving an imprint on the dynamics and emitted gravitational waves of the binary. Gravitational waves can thus be used to test the nature of compact binary coalescences. Here, we present a test of the spin-induced quadrupole and octupole moments of compact objects based on the flexible theory-independent (FTI) framework. FTI is a parameterized inspiral test of general relativity which enables the addition of post-Newtonian coefficient deviations to the gravitational-wave phase of a generic aligned-spin frequency-domain waveform model. We use this test on synthetic signals to study the measurability of spin-induced quadrupole and octupole moments. Next, we apply the test to a subset of signals observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. Lastly, we present forecasts for next-generation ground-based detectors, such as Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. Our estimates suggest that these detectors will be capable of placing stringent constraints on the spin-induced quadrupole and octupole moments of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ and $\mathcal{O}(10^{-1})$ respectively, which is two orders of magnitude tighter than current constraints, and thus on the nature of black holes in a compact binary coalescence.

This study investigates how dark matter in the background of the phantom field (DMPF) near a black hole influences neutrino flavor oscillations using a two-flavor model. It is found that gravitational effects are cancelled for radially moving neutrinos, causing the oscillation phase to increase with distance and mass-splitting, similar to flat spacetime. However, deflected neutrinos experience additional phase shifts due to dark matter, which slightly alters the mass-difference term and the total phase. Numerical analysis supports these findings and reveals a degeneracy between lens mass and dark matter parameters, affecting the transition probability curves based on source angle changes. Neutrinos modeled as Gaussian wave packets show that decoherence in a gravitational field is minimally influenced by dark matter, with the absolute neutrino mass determining the oscillation duration. Our findings imply that curved spacetime and dark matter significantly impact neutrino oscillations, offering potential insights into dark matter through neutrino astronomy in extreme environments.

We report a multi-pipeline follow-up study of the continuous gravitational-wave (CW) outlier identified by the Ming et al. Einstein@Home directed search for the young supernova remnant G347.3-0.5 (containing the central compact object RXJ1713.7-3946). The outlier was initially identified in LIGO data from the O3a observing run and followed up with the addition of O3b and O4a data by the Einstein@Home pipeline, with O4a producing weaker evidence. Here, we show extended data quality checks and results from three pipelines that have independently investigated this outlier, including the newly released O4b data set. We can robustly recover the outlier in O3, while we find no evidence for a related standard CW signal in O4a (consistent with Ming et al.) and O4b data. This work serves as a useful test case for future multi-pipeline follow-ups of CW candidates that aim to investigate their astrophysical or noise nature, and it is therefore an important step in preparation for the first CW detection.

The compact red source ``Capotauro'', discovered in deep JWST imaging in 2025, has been suggested as a possible galaxy candidate at redshift $z\simeq32$ on account of its extreme NIRCam colours. However, given the lack of evidence that this source is spatially resolved, a very cool brown dwarf, at a distance consistent with the scale-height of the Milky Way stellar disc ($\simeq 500$ pc), provides an alternative explanation of the observed photometry. Here we exploit new medium-band NIRCam imaging obtained $\simeq 3.5$ years after the discovery data to test this hypothesis. Using filter-dependent point-spread-function fitting, a robust local relative astrometric frame defined by 68 compact reference sources, and a joint four-image injection-recovery analysis, we show that Capotauro has moved by $132 \pm 20$ mas over the 3.5-yr interval span of the observations, ruling out the possibility that it is an extragalactic source (galaxy, AGN, or supernova) at $> 6 σ$. The observed apparent proper motion is $(μ_ξ,μ_η)=(+9.4^{+6.4}_{-4.8},-35.6^{+5.1}_{-5.9})$ mas yr$^{-1}$, or $37.6^{+5.5}_{-5.6}$ mas yr$^{-1}$ in total. Through comparison of its photometric spectral energy distribution with empirical templates, we find that Capotauro is best described as a brown dwarf of spectral type Y$1.0\pm0.5$ ($T_{\rm eff}\approx350$ K) at a distance of $730\pm110$ pc (although the existing data and spectral templates are insufficient to rule out an even colder, later-type brown dwarf). Capotauro is thus one of the most distant Y dwarfs found to date, as expected given its discovery in a deep JWST extragalactic survey field. This result demonstrates the value of multi-epoch imaging for identifying substellar contaminants among the most extreme photometric-redshift candidates.

We present JWST/NIRSpec IFU spectroscopy of the central $618\times618$ pc$^2$ ($\sim3''\times3''$) of NGC 4696, the BCG in the Centaurus cluster. Leveraging the $\sim0.1''$ ($20.6$ pc) pixel size of JWST, we resolve a compact circumnuclear rotating disk (radius of $\sim120$ pc) traced by Pa$α$ and H$_2$ 1$-$0 S(1) emission, which allows a reassessment of the AGN position based on the kinematic centre of this disk. A central Pa$α$ velocity dispersion reaching $σ\sim449$ km s$^{-1}$ implies a SMBH mass of $\sim10^9$ M$_\odot$, corresponding to a sphere of influence of $r_\mathrm{inf}\sim60$ pc, resolved by our observations. Position-velocity diagrams reveal an increase from $\sim-200$ to $\sim600$ km s$^{-1}$ on scales of $\sim150$ pc (a gradient of $4.7$ km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{-1}$) and an accretion rate of $\sim18$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ feeding the CND. The Pa$α$ emission shows a double-component in the core, with a high-dispersion redshifted component reaching $σ\sim600$ km s$^{-1}$. In contrast, MUSE H$α$ observations covering the $\sim10$ kpc-scale filamentary structure recover only weak velocity gradients ($\lesssim150$ km s$^{-1}$) within $\sim300\times300$ pc$^2$ and do not resolve the disk due to larger PSFs and pixel sizes. ALMA CO(2-1) data reveal only compact molecular clumps within a $\sim410\times410$ pc$^2$ region, with no extended counterpart to the structures traced by Pa$α$ and H$_2$ 1$-$0 S(1). Stellar kinematics show a smooth velocity field and broad dispersion profile, clearly decoupled from both the multiphase gas and the hot ICM probed by XRISM. These results provide a direct, spatially resolved view of gas dynamics within the inner few hundred parsecs, demonstrating the power of JWST/NIRSpec to probe SMBH feeding.

We present a detailed chemical analysis of seven extremely metal-poor (EMP) star candidates observed with X-Shooter, combining them with 16 EMP candidates from Paper I. We measured abundances for 16 elements, showing excellent agreement with previously published results. The sample was further extended using high-resolution literature data for 315 metal-poor stars. The full sample was then kinematically separated into prograde disk, retrograde disk, Gaia-Sausage Enceladus (GSE) and halo classifications. Combining dynamics with chemistry, we demonstrate that the prograde disk exhibits a distinct negative linear trend in [Sc/Mg] with increasing metallicity, with a slope of -0.6 dex per dex. This contrasts with the halo trend at -0.04 dex per dex, a difference significant at the 3.95$σ$ level. Within the metallicity range -4.2 $\leq$ [Fe/H] $\leq$ -1.9, the prograde disk trend is driven by low [Mg/Fe] at lower metallicities, along with low [Sc/Fe] at higher metallicities. This could be due to reduced early Mg enrichment in the progenitor prograde disk, followed by subsequent Mg enrichment, possibly associated with a later gas accretion event. However, the physical origin of the higher-metallicity Sc depletion remains unexplained by current nucleosynthesis models. The result remains significant at the >3$σ$ level across kinematic classifications derived from a different Galactic potential. Additionally, we also identified an r-I star with enhanced Ti, moderately-enhanced Sc, and depleted in C (unrelated to its evolutionary state). These abundances suggest a massive jet-induced hypernova progenitor, though a measurement of Zn is needed to verify this.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) formed in the early Universe remain a viable dark matter candidate. Since dark matter is expected to be concentrated toward galactic centres, a significant population of PBHs would reside near a supermassive black hole (SMBH), providing a promising environment for gravitational wave emission. We consider PBHs with masses from $10^{-15}$ to $10$ solar masses on hyperbolic trajectories past an SMBH, that produce bursts of gravitational radiation during periastron passage. Sagittarius A* is an obvious location for these events, but we show that both M31* and M87* would generate similar signals, albeit at lower frequencies. We assess the detectability of both individual bursts and "popcorn" backgrounds, relative to LISA and the proposed $μ$Ares mission. Comparing these results to plausible central halo densities, we find that unbound PBHs are unlikely to yield detectable signals.

We present high cadence 10-minute rotation measure (RM) monitoring of PSR~J0814+7429 using the LOw-Frequency ARray, aiming to probe ionospheric variability along the pulsar line of sight (LoS). By separating the ionospheric contribution from the observed RM, we quantitatively reconstruct the diurnal variation of the ionospheric electron density along the pulsar LoS based on the World Magnetic Model. The derived variations exhibit clear solar-driven modulation, including the ionospheric noontime bite-out phenomenon, and show good agreement with the LoS total electron content reconstructed from independent global vertical total electron content maps. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using pulsars as probes of temporal variations in the electron density of the Earth's ionosphere.

It has been shown that the spectrum of black hole quasi-normal modes is extremely sensitive to localized deformations of the geometry away from the potential peak. The deformation caused by a real astronomical environment will extend throughout the whole space rather than be localized in a finite region. Whether spatially extended fluctuations distributed throughout spacetime can produce similar effects remains unclear. In this work, we construct a toy model to investigate the case that the deformation of the metric is not localized but extends throughout the whole space. We study how it changes the ringdown stage of the black hole in the time domain. Using both the Pöschl-Teller and Regge-Wheeler potentials as representative backgrounds, we show that sufficiently wide spatially periodic perturbations of zero mean can trigger not only the ``spectral instability'' in the frequency domain but also black hole instabilities in the time domain. Through numerical analysis, we uncover a universal scaling relation for the instability threshold and further provide an analytical interpretation of its physical origin.

We demonstrate that a Bianchi-I spacetime in general relativity must be geodesically past-incomplete under the assumption of the null energy condition and provided there exists a time in which the universe is expanding in all directions. Spacetimes which are always contracting along at least one direction are not subject to the conclusion, and we provide an explicit example. A distinguishing feature of our theorem is that it makes no assumption on the global topology of the spacetime.

The event horizon telescope (EHT) has opened a new window onto the strong-field regime by imaging the shadows of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) Sgr A* and M87*. These observations provide a unique laboratory for probing the dark matter (DM) distribution around black holes. In this work we systematically investigate the imprints of two distinct DM halo models, the cold DM (CDM), and the cored scalar field DM (SFDM) profiles on the gravitational lensing signatures of Sgr A* and M87*. We compute the photon spheres, shadows, weak and strong lensing observables, and caustic structures for both models. We then compared the obtained values of the shadow diameters with the EHT data, using $χ^2$ statistics. We found that all the models are within $1.2σ$ of the measured shadow diameters with the small $χ^2$ differences, $Δχ^2 \lesssim 1.2$. The caustic analysis reveals distinct topological regimes, Sgr A* retains both tangential and radial critical curves, while M87* may show only tangential critical curves due to its larger mass. This topological difference provides a clear observational signature for future observations.

We present the first joint cosmological analysis to extract both geometric and dynamical information from galaxy intrinsic alignments (IAs). Using BOSS spectroscopy cross-matched with galaxy shape measurements from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, we measure anisotropic galaxy density--intrinsic ellipticity (GI) and intrinsic ellipticity (II) correlations over $0.43\leq z\leq0.7$ and decompose their spin-dependent angular structure into associated Legendre multipoles. The measured GI correlation exhibits the expected baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) structure, while its anisotropy provides geometric information complementary to galaxy clustering. By jointly modeling redshift-space and Alcock-Paczynski distortions, we constrain the growth rate parameter $fσ_8$, the angular-diameter distance $D_A$, and the Hubble expansion rate $H$. Relative to galaxy clustering alone, adding IA reduces their fractional uncertainties by 32\%, 18\%, and 29\%, respectively. By mapping these constraints onto a flat $w_0$CDM model, IA also tightens the constraints on $w_0$, $Ω_m$, and $H_0$; however, the $w_0$ constraint is sensitive to the minimum scale included in the analysis. Our results establish anisotropic galaxy shapes as an additional source of geometric and dynamical information for spectroscopic cosmology.

This overview is, in short, about people. About an idea that grew into a consortium, then a community, and finally a way of doing asteroseismology in the space era. The Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC) and later the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium (TASC) are not just organisational structures to access data. They became collaborative ecosystems in which students, postdocs, and senior scientists learned to work together across continents, time zones, and occasionally differing opinions about filters. The idea for this booklet did not emerge from a formal meeting or a funding call. It emerged-appropriately enough for an international collaboration-over a beer. More precisely, over a beer (truth be told, more than one) at Beer Lab University in Honolulu, during the TASC7/KASC14 Workshop in 2023. Google Maps now informs us that this particular Beer Lab location is "permanently closed", which seemed at first like an ominous metaphor for fading inspiration. Fortunately, we have since learned that Beer Lab simply moved across the street, proving that good ideas, like good consortia, tend to reinvent themselves rather than disappear entirely. Somewhere between discussions that night and many others over the years, we found ourselves revisiting stories we had long heard from our former supervisors and more senior colleagues; stories of how KASC was negotiated, how the first working groups were formed, how data were filtered (a saga in its own right!), and how trust was built. This book is therefore an attempt to capture some of that collective memory, while we still have access to the primary sources. It is timed to celebrate the return of the KASC/TASC Workshop Series to Aarhus in 2026, where the consortia's original framework was set in motion. There is something fitting about reflecting on the journey of KASC and TASC as the community gathers again where it all began.

We introduce a novel formulation of cosmological smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD), designed to model magnetic field physics in a vast array of nonlinear astrophysical systems, and which we have implemented in the highly-parallel, entirely modular, and open-source simulation code SWIFT. Our numerical scheme is designed to offer optimal performance at a minimal computational cost, keep a low memory footprint, and most notably couple robustly to effective sub-resolution recipes of galaxy formation. This is achieved through expressing our evolution equations in a density-energy conservative form, and augmenting them with discontinuity-capturing terms tailored to high dynamic range simulations, which are further modulated by adaptive switches that drastically improve coupling to sub-grid models and limit spurious dissipation. We moreover present novel suggestions for the two major regularisation techniques used in modern SPMHD, namely a tensile instability correction and mixed hyperbolic/parabolic divergence-cleaning scheme, to ensure code stability in highly dynamical scenarios. We evaluate the performance of our method on a series of problems of increasing complexity, culminating in three astrophysical applications which have historically proven challenging for mesh-less methods: we study jet launching from a forming proto-stellar core, dynamo amplification in a massive galaxy cluster and magnetic field evolution in a Milky Way-like disk galaxy; the latter constitutes the first reported coupling of the EAGLE galaxy formation model to a magnetohydrodynamics solver. Keeping model hyperparameters fixed across our test suite to provide a transparent picture of our method's capabilities in production, we demonstrate sound performance and convergence with resolution on standard `laboratory' numerical experiments, as well as competitive capabilities in realistic applications.

With upcoming surveys providing large volumes of highly precise observational data across a wide range of redshifts, it is increasingly important to have tools that can translate observational data into geometric and dynamical information without imposing a predetermined cosmological model. General cosmographic expansions centred at arbitrary redshift provide exactly such a tool. We here present the formalism for general cosmographic expansions centred at an arbitrary redshift, valid for 4-dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes. We then apply the expansion formalism to test its ability to reproduce the redshift-distance relation in two examples of large-scale cosmic structures (an underdensity and an overdensity) modelled by the Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi metric, where we examine the effect of choosing different redshift intervals for the cosmographic series expansions. This quantifies the extent to which cosmographic coefficients inferred from redshift-distance observations retain their interpretation as local geometric and dynamical quantities, as is expected in standard FLRW cosmology. Similarly to earlier results, we here find that in more general spacetimes the coefficients instead become effective parameters reflecting the finite observational range probed. Lastly, we discuss possible strategies for using the expansions to constrain dynamical and geometric quantities.

With the arrival of advanced telescopes such as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), direct imaging of a black hole's shadow became a reality. Simulations play an important role in reproducing their appearance and constraining physical parameters of the black hole. We present a simple framework of simulating images of Schwarzschild black holes surrounded by thin, rotating accretion disks, accounting for gravitational and Doppler redshifts. A ray tracing algorithm based on integrating the photon geodesic equations with a 4th-order Runge-Kutta scheme is used for imaging. The accuracy of the numerical method is verified by convergence tests. A brief discussion of the validity of the weak field approximation is included and a qualitative comparison between the simulated images and the EHT image of M87* is presented.

We develop an operator formulation of the entropy-geometry correspondence for static, spherically symmetric gravity. Starting from a generalized entropy, we reconstruct an effective nonlocal form factor, its coordinate-space source, the associated cumulative mass profile, and the resulting spacetime geometry. The construction is worked out for the Bekenstein-Hawking, Rényi, Tsallis-Cirto, Barrow, Kaniadakis entropies, logarithmically/exponentially corrected entropy and LQG inspired entropy. The operator representation provides a direct relation between generalized entropy, nonlocal gravitational dressing, and a scale-dependent effective mass or Newton coupling. We analyze the reconstructed sources and their infrared and ultraviolet behavior, discuss their physical consistency, and identify the limits in which the standard Schwarzschild description is recovered. We show that the generalized entropy exactly reproduces the area law with the reconstructed running Newton coupling, $\dd S=\dd A/4G_S(r_+)$, ensuring thermodynamic consistency. Since horizon entropy is determined by the action, this favors entropy corrections in the gravitational sector. We also derive the conditions for the reconstructed horizon to be an event horizon with positive temperature.

This study aims to identify very low-mass members within the Barnard 30 dark cloud, with a particular focus on detecting objects in the substellar domain, including those within the planetary-mass regime. We employed deep photometric observations using data from the Euclid mission, incorporating advanced data processing techniques, in particular the DeNeb tool for optimized source detection. We also analyze multi-wavelength ancillary observations and perform a Spectral Energy Distribution analysis for each candidate member. In addition, low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy was obtained for one candidate to further assess its nature and properties. Our initial photometric analysis yielded a initial sample of nearly one hundred candidate members in the substellar mass range. A subsample of 23 probable members, located close to the 3 Myr isochrone, has been identified. Thus, we have substantially expanded the known population of faint, cool sources associated with the region. Low resolution near-IR spectroscopic analysis of one candidate reveals an L2 spectral type with low gravity, consistent with a young ultra-cool dwarf. If its membership is confirmed, its estimated mass lies in the range 15-20 Mjup. These findings validate the reliability of our multi-wavelength photometric selection methodology. These results offer valuable insights into the low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) and demonstrate the effectiveness of Euclid in identifying brown dwarf and planetary-mass candidates in nearby, densely packed star-forming regions.

Neutrinos can acquire electromagnetic moments either within the Standard Model through higher order radiative corrections or within the domain of new physics. In this study we focus on probing these beyond the standard model neutrino moments through quenched superradiance of black holes where fermionic pairs can be produced from the superradiant bosonic cloud. We consider the production of dark photons from black hole superradiance and quenching occurs through the production of neutrino-antineutrino pairs from the dark photons. The efficiency of the pair production depends on the effective coupling between the dark photons and neutrinos, i.e., the dark electromagnetic moments. We also discuss bounds on primordial black hole abundance from neutrino background arising from this quenched superradiance mechanism.

Utilizing the DISCO code we solve the 2D hydrodynamic equations for an equal mass circular restricted binary with an isothermal circumbinary disk (CBD). This work explores the eccentric instability in the CBD and angular momentum transfer, and their dependence on disk thickness and viscosity. The focus is specifically on thicker CBDs, with Mach number, ($\mathcal{M}\leq 14$). The growth rate of the disk cavity's eccentricity and the angular momentum transport from accretion is calculated as diagnostics for binary-disk morphology evolution. Calculations of CBD torques must run long enough to allow saturation of the disk's eccentric instability. The torque on the binary rapidly flips sign once the instability saturates. Thus we connect eccentricity saturation to a reversal in migration behavior for the binary. The binary experiences inward migration while the disk is in an evolving state, and outward migration once the disk eccentricity has saturated. The saturation time was found to be non-linearly dependent on Mach number and thicker CBDs require longer evolution time for a quasi-steady state to appear. The eccentric instability is not present for $\mathcal{M} \lesssim 5$, and therefore migration reverses direction, leading to robustly inward migration for very thick disks $h/r \gtrsim 0.2$. The results of this work were found to be consistent with community results for Mach numbers $\mathcal{M} \ge 10$.

In the context of quantum cosmology, we study quantum entanglement in solutions of the Wheeler--DeWitt equation for a homogeneous inflaton--gravity system coupled to perturbations. The wave function describing the homogeneous degrees of freedom is entangled with the wave function describing the perturbations, and this may lead to potentially observable effects on the inflationary spectra. We restrict our analysis to two simplified models that admit a future de Sitter attractor, while neglecting non-adiabatic effects and contributions of order $\mathcal{O}(\hbar^2)$ in the Mukhanov--Sasaki equation. Analytical expressions for the resulting spectra are obtained by marginalising over the homogeneous inflaton variable and can be evaluated in regimes where reliable approximations are available. Small deviations from the standard semiclassical spectra are indeed generated, and these are significantly larger than the quantum-gravitational corrections usually considered in this context.

The supermassive black hole Sgr A* at the Galactic center provides a unique opportunity to probe the distribution of environmental matter around black holes. In this work, we adopt the Hernquist-type environmental black hole spacetime, a non-vacuum exact solution of the Einstein field equations, as its gravitational model to describe the joint gravitational field of the black hole and its surrounding matter, with environmental effects characterized by the dimensionless compactness $C$ and the characteristic scale $α$. We combine black hole shadow data with two sets of S2 star data provided by Do et al. and Gillessen et al., and constrain the model parameters using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. At the 95\% credible upper limit, the shadow-only data constrain $C < 1.498\times10^{-1}$.but provide no effective constraint on $α$. The two S2 datasets yield $C<5.239\times10^{-5}$ and $C<1.303\times10^{-4}$, respectively, with $α$ exhibiting a bimodal structure in both cases. After combining the shadow and S2 star data, the $C$ upper limits are tightened to $C<3.760\times10^{-5}$ and $C<1.073\times10^{-4}$, respectively. These results indicate that current observations rule out highly compact configurations of the environmental halo, while the obtained constraints are consistent with the typical compactness range of matter halos. However, $α$ still exhibits a significant bimodal degeneracy, indicating that current observations are insufficient to uniquely determine the radial distribution of the environmental halo. Future observations of multiple stellar orbits may provide further insights into the radial structure of the environmental halo.

We derive and investigate the reduced dynamics of a nonrelativistic quantum matter system interacting with quantized gravitational waves. Because gravitational radiation couples tidally to the mass quadrupole moment, we emphasize that the leading interaction is quadratic in the mechanical displacement. Rather than treating it as a complication to be removed by linearization, we retain this full quadratic dependence, which gives rise to two-phonon rather single-phonon processes typical in dipolar interactions. We clarify its relation to the effective linear coupling that often appears in optomechanical literature, but which conceals the delicate quantum signatures of the full quadratic coupling. Using the Born-Markov and secular approximations, we microscopically derive Lindblad master equations for the matter dynamics induced by graviton baths in multi-mode vacuum, coherent, number, thermal, and squeezed states. We treat the ultraviolet-divergent Lamb-shift Hamiltonian by an explicit renormalization procedure, with the mechanical frequency identified as the physical frequency. Remarkably, owing to the nature of the interaction, the matter Hilbert space decomposes into even- and odd-parity sectors for all bath states considered. For a coherent graviton bath, the decoherence is identical to that of the vacuum, while the bath one-point function produces a coherent-shift Hamiltonian that exactly reproduces the tidal interaction with a classical gravitational wave. For a vacuum graviton bath, we recover the coherence protection between the two lowest mechanical number states, while number and thermal graviton baths remove this protection and enhance decoherence, although the effect remains small for realistic parameters. By contrast, a squeezed graviton bath enlarges the coupled coherence structure, and gives rise to a novel, coherence-protected sector spanned by dressed dark states.

We discuss the impact of tensor-induced backreaction at second order in perturbation theory on primordial black holes production in single-field inflationary models, where the comoving curvature power spectrum is amplified by a transient ultra-slow-roll phase. Although the leading perturbative correction is mostly negligible in standard slow-roll evolution, it becomes important in non-attractor regimes, going in the direction of limiting the suppression of the first slow-roll parameter $\varepsilon$ and reducing the enhancement of the scalar power spectrum. We then go beyond the standard perturbative analysis by considering the background parameters as effective quantities with evolution self consistently determined by a closed system of backreaction equations. This analysis, which leads to a partial resummation of the effect beyond the perturbative treatment, confirms the limitation of the suppression of $\varepsilon$ by consistently showing how the effect remains important even after accounting for the effective evolution of the background in the evaluation of the backreaction itself. Finally, we discuss how, taking into account the tensor-induced backreaction, the fine-tuning associated with the value of the peak amplitude of the scalar power spectrum is strongly reduced.

We consider the dynamics of a charged fermion in de Sitter space in the presence of a uniform background magnetic field, and discuss magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking using the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. We evaluate the mode functions of the charged fermion field in this background by imposing the Bunch--Davies vacuum condition. The gap equation is solved in the mean-field approximation. We derive analytic expressions for the gap in several limiting regimes, such as the large-magnetic-field and large-curvature limits. We find that the curvature effect restores chiral symmetry, whereas the magnetic field enhances chiral symmetry breaking through the conventional mechanism of magnetic catalysis. The phase structure associated with chiral symmetry breaking is revealed by numerical calculations.

Understanding the nature of dark matter (DM) is one of the most pressing questions of modern physics. The flat rotation curves of galaxies, especially the extended HI rotation curves from radio observations at 21 cm, played a key historical role to establish the DM problem and continue to be a major tool to test different galaxy formation models, particle DM models, and modified gravity theories. The SKA observatory will revolutionize the study of HI rotation curves thanks to its unprecedented angular resolution, sensitivity, and survey speed. In combination with optical and near-infrared ancillary data, HI surveys with SKA-Mid AA4 will allow us to (1) obtain HI data at spatial resolutions of 1"-2", probing the inner galaxy dynamics with unprecedented details (e.g., the cusp-core problem); (2) move from representative samples of a few hundreds of objects to statistical samples of tens of thousands of objects, allowing us to study the dynamical scaling laws of galaxies and their DM properties with unprecedented statistical power across different cosmic environments; (3) move from galaxies at z~0 to galaxies at z~1, probing DM halos at earlier cosmic epochs and exploring the redshift evolution of the dynamical laws across about 8 Gyrs. The massive SKA data, however, will pose important technical challenges for the derivation of HI rotation curves with automated kinematic software. Developing such kinematic software in the SKA era will be crucial to reach major scientific goals, such as discriminating between different solutions to the DM problem.

We investigate a geometric approach referred to as the Conformal Killing Gravity (CKG), in which the dark energy sector emerges naturally from the conformal Killing symmetry of the Robertson--Walker space-time. Within this framework, the divergence-free conformal Killing tensor behaves as an effective perfect fluid, giving rise to a dynamical dark-energy component whose density, pressure, and equation of state are uniquely determined by the underlying geometry, without introducing any empirical dark-energy parametrization. The resulting CKG model extends the standard $Λ$CDM cosmology through a single additional parameter while recovering the $Λ$CDM limit in the absence of the geometric contribution. We constrain the model using Planck PR4 (NPIPE) CMB temperature, polarization, and lensing observations, ACT DR6 CMB lensing, DESI DR2 baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, and the Pantheon$+$, DES-Dovekie, and Union3 Type Ia supernova compilations. The analysis shows that the CKG favors a quintessence-like dark-energy evolution with no evidence for phantom crossing, while the reconstructed equation of state rapidly approaches the cosmological constant at earlier cosmic times. Furthermore, the model predicts a future critical redshift in the range $-0.8 \lesssim z_c \lesssim -0.7$, indicating that the present cosmic expansion eventually reaches a turning point before the formal singular limit at $z=-1$. Since the geometric contribution modifies only the post-recombination expansion history, the sound horizon remains essentially unchanged and the model does not provide a complete solution to the $H_0$ tension. Our results demonstrate that the CKG provides a simple, physically motivated, and observationally favored framework for describing the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe.

We propose gravitational caloric theory (GCT) --- an extension of general relativity that features a vector field $S_μ$ sourced by and non-minimally coupled to the fluid sector while preserving covariant conservation of the standard fluid energy-momentum tensor. Our initial motivation is to trigger early dark energy (EDE) using the total fluid equation of state that encodes the cosmic radiation-matter transition. This mechanism provides a natural resolution of the EDE coincidence problem. The cosmological background dynamics are analyzed in detail by casting the evolution equations into dynamical-system form and, in relevant reduced cases, using Poincaré compactification to uncover the corresponding global phase-space structure. Beyond EDE, GCT admits two novel cosmological applications associated with critical points at infinity. Both arise from a class of energy-cancelling solutions in which conventional energy components preferentially excite $S_μ$ rather than source spacetime curvature. One is a $Λ$-cancelling solution that realizes the self-tuning mechanism for the old cosmological constant problem. Yet it remains incomplete. The other is a fluid-cancelling solution that serves as the basis for our proposed \textit{early static hot Universe}. In this scenario, $S_μ$ offsets the gravitational effect of ordinary hot gas, yielding quasi-static expansion with a decreasing comoving Hubble radius that can address the horizon problem. This offers an alternative to inflation. Furthermore, its \textit{hot} ingredient distinguishes this scenario from other quasi-static early Universe models and may leave observable signatures in primordial fluctuations. To probe the viability of GCT beyond cosmology, we further analyze linear perturbations about Minkowski spacetime and investigate static spherically symmetric (strong-field) systems. (Abstract abridged to meet arXiv limits.)

Host-star properties provide important clues to planet formation and evolution, yet it remains unclear whether the observed differences between planet-hosting stars and stars without detected planets reflect genuine signatures of planet formation or underlying differences in stellar populations. Using a homogeneous sample of 28,383 Kepler-LAMOST-Gaia dwarf and subgiant stars, including 629 host stars with 865 planets, we compare host stars with age-mass matched non-host stars after correcting for distribution-induced matching biases. Most host-non-host differences disappear when the full planet sample is considered. However, separating planets by radius reveals distinct trends. At the high-abundance end of the [O/Fe], [Mg/Fe], and [Si/Fe] distributions, Earth-like hosts tend to be more O-rich but more Mg-poor and Si-poor than their age-mass matched non-host stars, whereas sub-Neptune hosts tend to show the opposite behavior. Sub-Neptune hosts also tend to exhibit lower chromospheric activity and smaller birth radii than comparable non-host stars. These results suggest that host-non-host differences become apparent primarily after separating planets by size and that Earth-like planets and sub-Neptunes may be associated with distinct formation environments and evolutionary pathways. We also find that hot-Jupiter hosts are tentatively more metal-rich, chromospherically active, and formed at smaller Galactic birth radii than hosts of longer-period Jupiters.

High-redshift spectroscopic galaxy surveys will be the scientific engines of the next generation of large-scale structure cosmology. The clustering signal of high redshift, star-forming Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs) will be of key importance for obtaining high-redshift constraints on the growth of structure and redshift-space distortions. The complex radiative transfer (RT) of Lyman-$α$ photons alters the symmetry group respected by the overdensity field constructed from these galaxies, and so the observed large-scale clustering of LAEs may have an angular dependence that differs significantly from that of linear theory, possibly biasing inference of cosmological parameters. While such an effect has been seen in simulations, its amplitude in nature and its detailed form remains unclear. In the restricted context of a linear, Gaussian model, we outline a procedure for pinning down the type and amplitude of such changes in angular dependence on large scales due to unknown RT or a more general unmodeled angular effect in the hypothetical scenario in which an observer is presented with LAE data containing such an effect. We show that if a second tracer without the modified angular dependence is available for cross correlation with the LAEs at the same redshifts (e.g., Lyman-break galaxies), then, with a high redshift survey of modest size, it is possible to rapidly identify: 1) the presence of a nontrivial angular functional form of radiative transfer (by a conditional field-level realization), 2) the functional form itself (with an optimal filter that we derive), and 3) the value of its amplitude with an uncertainty (via an adaptation of the standard quadratic estimator). Such sample-variance-cancellation strategies therefore provide a statistical solution to unknown astrophysical or systematic angular clustering dependence, including from RT.

We present improved cosmological constraints from the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey ("KiDS-1000") using "clipped" shear correlation functions. Clipping filters the projected density field inferred from weak lensing data for the highest-density regions, allowing for two-point functions to extract additional cosmological information. We model, for the first time, the impact of systematics on clipped lensing statistics, including intrinsic alignments, baryonic feedback, photometric redshift uncertainties, and source-lens clustering. We train Gaussian process emulators on dark-matter-only and hydrodynamical $N$-body simulations to predict the cosmological and systematic dependence of both the clipped and conventional, "unclipped" shear correlation functions. We find that the combination of the clipped and unclipped probes improves the constraints on the free parameters of the $w$CDM model relative to the conventional approach, with a 16% tightening of the $S_8$ uncertainty and 24% for $w_0$. Our constraints, $Ω_{\rm m} = 0.263^{+0.035}_{-0.038}$, $S_8=0.724^{+0.027}_{-0.027}$, and $w_0 = -1.24^{+0.26}_{-0.28}$, are consistent with the $Λ$CDM model and with the cosmic shear analysis of Asgari et al. (2021) via a completely independent simulation- and emulator-based forward-modelling approach. We also find the complimentary information in the clipped statistic provides an upper limit on the baryon feedback strength, and improves the constraints on intrinsic alignments by 27%.

We study single-field slow-roll inflation in metric-affine gravity with a scalar field non-minimally coupled to the non-Riemannian Ricci scalar and to the divergences of the torsion and nonmetricity vectors, a structure that generalizes the well-known Nieh-Yan term. By imposing projective coherence of the matter sector and solving the connection field equations, we integrate out torsion and nonmetricity and obtain an equivalent Einstein-frame formulation in which the metric-affine couplings are encoded in a modified kinetic function and potential. For the choice of coupling functions $\mathcal{A}(φ) = M_P^2 + ξφ^2$ to the non-Riemannian Ricci scalar, $\mathcal{C}_i(φ) = ξ_i φ$ to the Nieh-Yan-like terms and a monomial Jordan-frame potential $\mathcal{V} \propto φ^k$, we show that in the limit of a large positive effective Nieh-Yan-like coupling $\barξ$ the canonical field satisfies $χ\sim φ^2$, the Jordan-frame field values during inflation become sub-Planckian, and the Einstein-frame potential reduces to $U \sim χ^{k/2}$. We compute the slow-roll predictions numerically for quartic and quadratic Jordan-frame potentials and compare them with the current CMB constraints from Planck, BICEP/Keck, ACT, and SPT. We find that intermediate values of $\barξ$ can restore the compatibility of non-minimally coupled Palatini inflation with observations: in the quartic case, the model predicts a tensor-to-scalar ratio within reach of next-generation CMB experiments for $\barξ\lesssim10^4$, while in the quadratic case the coupling cures the $η$-problem arising for $ξ\gtrsim 10^{-2}$ and yields viable predictions for $10^{-2}\lesssim\barξ\lesssim 10^2$. In the negative $\barξ$ regime, the model does not improve upon standard Palatini inflation, though it can still produce distinct, testable predictions.

The Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effects provide a potent cosmological probe of the large-scale structure in the universe. Here, we present a simplified derivation of the kinematic corrections to the relativistic thermal SZ effect using the boost operator approach. By first performing the thermal average inside the moving electron cloud frame, the thermal and peculiar motion contributions can be naturally separated, leading to a significant simplification of the scattering calculation. The angular dependence of the problem is resummed into the pre-computed Doppler operators avoiding the otherwise cumbersome many-dimensional angular integrals required using conventional approaches. We provide expressions for the relativistic SZ signal, exact to all orders in the electron temperature theta_e and the peculiar velocity beta_p of a given cluster. These reproduce well-known results for the relativistic SZ effects and extend the description to higher orders in the cluster's speed. We also derive a closed-form expression for the thermally-averaged thermal SZ scattering operator by studying the underlying symmetries of the Doppler operators fundamental to the formalism. Through these results, we also demonstrate how the boost operator approach gives clarity to the physical description of the problem at hand, promising to be useful to a wide range of astrophysical problems.

Neutrinos and other light relics leave characteristic imprints in the cosmic microwave background anisotropies, making their observation a sensitive probe of the particle content and thermal history of the early universe. The energy density in these relativistic species is parameterized by their effective number $N_\mathrm{eff}$. Measuring this parameter at the percent level, which is a long-standing science goal of CMB-S4 and other experiments, would test a wide range of well-motivated physics within and beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In this paper, we present Fisher-matrix forecasts of the projected sensitivity to $N_\mathrm{eff}$ of several CMB-S4 survey configurations considered during its extensive design phase. The conceptual design reaches $σ(N_\mathrm{eff}) < 0.03$ over its seven-year observing period, while the revised configuration achieves the same precision over a longer timescale. We complement these results with a cosmic-variance-limited survey over the same multipole range to quantify the room for improvement accessible with additional instrumental, observational, and theoretical efforts. Finally, we discuss the broad implications of precise $N_\mathrm{eff}$ measurements for the radiation sector, big bang nucleosynthesis, light thermal relics, and other early-universe physics. The forecasts presented in this work are performed with the publicly released DRAFT (Dark Radiation Anisotropy Flowdown Team) tool. It provides an end-to-end pipeline from simulated foreground maps and component separation to delensing and projected sensitivities for any cosmological parameter, and it can be directly applied to other cosmic microwave background survey designs.

The Hubble-Lemaître tension remains a significant challenge in modern cosmology, exhibiting a discrepancy between early-Universe cosmic microwave background measurements and local distance ladder observations. Strong lensing time-delay cosmography provides an independent, geometric probe of $H_0$ that can help resolve this discrepancy. Although hundreds of lensed quasars have been discovered, only a handful have been analyzed due to the resource-intensive follow-up required to measure precise time delays and break degeneracies. We present uniform gravitational lens modeling of 17 recently discovered lensed quasar systems (2 triply-imaged and 15 quadruply-imaged) to identify and prioritize the most promising candidates for future cosmological study. Using high-resolution near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/IR F160W imaging (PID: 17916, PI: T. Treu), we perform uniform pipeline modeling with Lenstronomy. We constrain the mass and light profiles of the deflector galaxies, and assuming a fiducial cosmology, we predict their Fermat potential differences and expected time delays. Our pipeline successfully yields models and time-delay predictions for all 17 systems. Assuming ideal monitoring conditions, we estimate the total contribution from time-delay and Fermat potential modeling errors to the time-delay distance. From this, we classify the systems by estimated time-delay distance uncertainties: six "excellent" ($\leq 3\%$), five "good" ($3\%$-$7\%$), three "suitable" ($7\%$-$12\%$), and three "impractical" ($>12\%$). We recommend prioritizing follow-up campaigns on the 11 "excellent" and "good" systems, which have the potential to deliver high-precision, independent constraints on $H_0$ to help resolve the Hubble-Lemaître tension.

Some free-form reconstructions of the dark energy equation of state suggest that dynamical dark energy is the only explanation for the observed data. In this letter we argue that early Universe solutions to the Hubble tension (around or before recombination) generically cause the evidence for this claim to strongly reduce, establishing a tight connection between the early and late cosmology. In particular, the level of evidence for dynamical dark energy depends on the parameters $H_0 r_\mathrm{d}$ and $Ω_\mathrm{m}$ and early universe solutions typically push towards higher values of $H_0 r_\mathrm{d}$ and lower values of $Ω_\mathrm{m}$, where such evidence is reduced.

Gas-rich, star-forming, low-mass galaxies in the nearby universe are powerful laboratories for studying baryonic physics in detail including: stellar mass assembly, stellar feedback, chemical enrichment, and the interplay of the interstellar medium with star formation. Investigating these disparate yet interconnected processes requires data obtained by myriad observatories. Here, we present a comprehensive atlas of uniformly processed data on 37 low-mass galaxies within 6 Mpc. The atlas includes archival data on (i) the HI from the Very Large Array observatory; (ii) resolved stars from Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging; (iii) Spitzer Space Telescope 3.6 micron imaging; and (iv) optical imaging from ground-based telescopes. We also compile measurements of (i) tip-of-the-red-giant-branch (TRGB) distances to the galaxies; (ii) direct method gas-phase oxygen abundances and nitrogen to oxygen abundance ratios; (iii) constraints on the local environment around each galaxy; and (iv) other measurements from the literature. We supplement the data with new observations where needed to complete the measurements for all galaxies in the sample. From these data, we find good agreement between stellar masses measured from color-magnitude diagrams and those estimated from 3.6 micron imaging by assuming a mass-to-light ratio. We also provide the first mapping of the HI profiles as a function of structural parameters. These data sets and measurements are the foundation for the Galaxies Losing Oxygen via Winds (GLOW) project whose main aim is to characterize the star formation - chemical enrichment cycle of low-mass galaxies by measuring the production, distribution, and retention of oxygen on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis.

Oxygen is forged by stars and redistributed through galaxies by feedback-driven outflows, leaving a record of star formation and the baryon cycle imprinted on its present-day abundance and distribution. The Galaxies Losing Oxygen via Winds (GLOW) project quantifies the production, distribution, and retention of oxygen in 37 low-mass, low-metallicity, gas-rich galaxies in the nearby universe (D<6 Mpc) spanning a critical stellar mass range (10^6.5<Mstar<10^9.5) where feedback is expected to strongly shape galaxy evolution. We incorporate literature results to extend the analysis over 10^5<Mstar<10^11.5. We couple star formation histories derived from resolved stars with measurements of ISM metallicity and gas mass, and compares the oxygen budgets with empirical constraints in the circumgalactic medium (CGM). We find low-mass galaxies retain between 4-25% (mean 11%) of their oxygen produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, and nearly all retained oxygen residing in the gas. Galaxies exhibit increased scatter to higher oxygen retention fractions when residing in denser environments (Theta_5>0.5) and within 1 Mpc of a massive galaxy (Mstar>10^9 Msun), indicating environment likely affects the amount of oxygen retained, recycled, or accreted to galaxies. Contrary to expectations, oxygen retention does not correlate with position on the mass-metallicity relation. Although ionized oxygen is detected in the CGM, it remains unclear whether most missing oxygen resides there or has been expelled entirely. Hydrodynamical simulations, despite successfully reproducing the mass-metallicity relation, predict much higher retention fractions than measured in low-mass galaxies. Simple modeling indicates that wind mass-loading and outflow metallicity govern oxygen retention, and that low-mass galaxies accrete less baryonic material relative to the cosmic baryon fraction.

Strongly lensed gravitational waves (GWs) are powerful probes of substructure in the lens. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are postulated to be efficient lenses that may distort the lensed waveforms of currently detectable stellar-mass compact binaries, as hinted by GW231123. Assuming that IMBHs are located in globular clusters (GCs), we compute the rate at which they would affect strongly lensed repeated chirps produced by galaxy-scale lenses, considering a compound lens system. Exploring different astrophysical model assumptions and lensing criteria, we find that the relative rate is at most 1/1000 and decays to 1/10,000 for our fiducial optimistic scenario. At high magnifications, $μ$ > 100, the relative rate approaches 1%, but these cases are intrinsically rare in absolute value. Our results imply that GW lensing by IMBHs and GCs is unlikely, disfavoring such an interpretation for GW231123. In turn, they point towards lensed GWs being a clean probe of dark matter substructures and primordial black holes.

All-sky synchrotron polarization observations are the primary probe of the Galactic large-scale ordered magnetic field, which includes both coherent and ordered random components. However, magnetic-field strength estimates from synchrotron observations depend on the assumed cosmic-ray electron model, which itself depends on the magnetic-field configuration and strength throughout the Galaxy. We aim to constrain the strength of the large-scale ordered magnetic field in the Galactic halo through a self-consistent treatment of cosmic-ray electrons with the latest coherent magnetic-field configuration inferred by Xu & Han from rotation measures corrected for local contamination. We compare the Planck 30 GHz synchrotron polarization maps with our large-scale synchrotron models that jointly treat cosmic rays and magnetic fields and are constrained by direct cosmic-ray measurements and multifrequency data. Since the inferred field strength depends on the halo size, we explore different cosmic-ray propagation halo sizes. We observe a significant large-scale synchrotron excess relative to model predictions, which requires an ordered toroidal magnetic-field component in the halo with a peak strength of 3.2-4.3 microG, depending on the assumed halo size. We also find that the cosmic-ray propagation model with a 4 kpc halo size is preferred by the Planck synchrotron polarization maps. This result shows that the ordered magnetic field is 4-6 times stronger than the coherent field inferred from rotation measures by Xu & Han, establishing the presence of an ordered random field in the Galactic halo that is not traced by rotation measures. Attributing the synchrotron excess entirely to the Local Bubble would require non-standard Local Bubble properties, disfavoring this interpretation.

Asymptotic states of massive particles in electrodynamics and gravity are not uniquely defined because of the absence of a mass gap. Working in the KMOC formalism, we study the classical implications of this freedom in the dressing of massive particle states. We show that coherent-state dressings modify observables by a large gauge/BMS transformation. The associated coherent-state displacement operator can be completed into a conserved charge, the BMS charge in the gravitational case, which implements large gauge transformations on scattering data. The parameter of our dressing is directly the large gauge/BMS transformation parameter, and we explain that observables do not depend on monopolar and dipolar parts of the transformation parameter to all orders. Our construction is driven by soft factorization rather than by an underlying local symmetry, and we illustrate this by exhibiting the same structure in a scalar theory with no gauge symmetry. We explore the action of large gauge transformations on two-particle states for scalar, abelian gauge and graviton mediators, obtaining a universal shift of the impact parameter and clarifying the frame dependence of the radiated angular momentum vis à vis the frame-independence of the total angular momentum. The transformation connecting the canonical BMS frame, in which the Schwarzschild metric takes the Kerr-Schild form, to the intrinsic frame, in which it takes the De Donder form, illustrates these effects concretely.

We report the development of a new widely tunable cavity and demonstrate its use in a search for dark matter axions. We achieve unloaded quality factors above $10^{5}$, roughly $25\times$ larger than a bare copper cavity at the same frequency, using concentric sapphire shells to reduce Ohmic losses on the cavity barrel. A rotating sapphire rod tunes our cavity mode over the $10.1-11.7$ GHz range, approximately $16\%$ of its resonant frequency. Using an amplified receiver chain, we demonstrate sensitivity to new axion parameter space by tuning the cavity over the $200$ MHz range between $10.25-10.45$ GHz (42.4 - 43.2, $μ$eV) to constrain the axion-to-photon coupling to $|g_{aγγ}|$ $\leq$ 1 $\times$ $10^{-12}$ ${GeV}^{-1}$. This cavity can scan its tuning range about $9$ times faster compared to a bare copper cavity when paired with a photon counting device, laying the groundwork for a definitive search for the QCD axion over $10.1-11.7$ GHz.

We show that black hole horizons with non-constant curvature can be constructed in any even dimension, when the source of the Einstein equations is given by the stress-energy tensor of a non-linear sigma model of a particular class

We compute, up to 4th post-Newtonian (4PN) order, the gauge-invariant stability criterion determining the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) for arbitrary-mass compact binaries with spins aligned with the orbital angular momentum. Our calculation, a perturbation analysis, incorporates spin-orbit and spin-spin contributions, both up to next-to-next-to-leading order, as well as leading-order cubic and quartic spin contributions, all calculated in prior works within the effective-field-theory (EFT) Hamiltonian formalism. In the test-mass limit, we recover the Kerr ISCO truncated at 4PN order. Estimating the ISCO shift at first order in the mass ratio and comparing our results with numerical gravitational self-force (GSF) calculations, we find good agreement for retrograde spin (the smallest discrepancy being obtained for maximal retrograde spin) and moderate prograde spin. For nearly maximal prograde spin, the PN approach fails to determine the ISCO, for it is close to the black hole (BH) horizon. We also estimate the ISCO shift due to the test-particle spin and compare our result with the exact prediction from the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations for a spinning particle orbiting a Kerr black hole. Finally, we discuss the stability and the ISCO of corotating black-hole binaries.

In Penrose's nonlinear graviton construction, a self-dual spacetime arises as the moduli space of holomorphic twistor lines in curved twistor space, whose explicit parametrization is concretely given by the incidence relation. We demonstrate a concrete local construction of the incidence relations for self-dual black hole spacetimes in Kerr-Schild coordinates: Eguchi-Hanson, self-dual Taub-NUT, and self-dual Plebański-Demiański. This is facilitated by implementing the Dunajski-Mason recursion in the framework of Plebański's second heavenly equation, for which we explicitly find the Plebański scalar. Our results describe closed-form formulae. Notably, for the self-dual Taub-NUT solution, the exact incidence relation exhibits linear dependence on the gravitational coupling. The construction of zero-rest-mass fields on self-dual black hole backgrounds is briefly sketched as an application.

The clustering of galaxies is affected by the assembly history of their underlying dark matter halos. This complex phenomenon, known as galaxy assembly bias, has been extensively studied, but the exact physical origin remains unclear. Splashback halos, typically low-mass halos that have traversed larger neighboring halos, have been suggested to be associated with halo assembly bias. Using a semi-analytic galaxy-formation model applied to the Millennium simulation, we explicitly explore the role that splasback galaxies play in galaxy assembly bias. We identify splashbacks as present-day central galaxies that were formerly satellites of a more massive host, and construct stellar-mass selected galaxy samples with the splashbacks either removed or reclassified as satellites of their former host halo. We find that splashbacks tend to reside in low-mass, highly concentrated halos and in dense environments, and that they have relatively high stellar-to-halo mass ratios. Splashbacks appear to be largely responsible for the low-mass tail of the occupancy variation for highly concentrated halos and for halos in dense environments. Finally, when computing the impact of assembly bias on galaxy clustering, we find that while removing the splashbacks significantly reduces the signal, reassigning them has little effect on its amplitude but shifts the transition scale. We repeat the analysis with the hydrodynamical simulation TNG300, confirming the robustness of our results. Our results provide insight into assembly bias and have potential implications for modeling the galaxy-halo connection.

Many A- and F- type stars do not display $δ$ Scuti pulsations, despite being located within the instability strip. We use photometry from the TESS Mission to discover and study $δ$ Scuti pulsators in open clusters within 500 pc and with ages between ~20 and 900 Myr, which provide a unique opportunity to study $δ$ Scuti pulsators in coeval populations with uniform chemical composition. We measure pulsator occurrence, which corrects the pulsator fraction for incompleteness, across all clusters. We find that clusters younger than 200 Myr tend to exhibit higher occurrence rates, with an average occurrence of 88$\pm$3\%. The occurrence rates in clusters older than 200 Myr tend to resemble the pulsator fraction of field-star samples, with an average occurrence of 62$\pm$3\%. In addition, we find that pulsators tend to rotate more rapidly in older clusters than their younger counterparts and that hotter pulsators may stop pulsating earlier than their cooler counterparts. These results show that pulsator occurrence decreases with age and that rapid rotation is critical in maintaining $δ$ Scuti pulsations over time.

If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry of an ultralight axion is broken before the end of inflation, axion quantum fluctuations seed isocurvature perturbations, linking them to the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. We extend the effective time average (ETA) approach of the Boltzmann code ${\rm AxiECAMB}$ to accurately evolve these perturbations across the full axion mass range from dark energy ($m_a \lesssim H_0$) to dark matter ($m_a \gg 10^{-28}$ eV) types. We provide analytic fitting formulae for the axion abundance given the initial field value $φ_{\rm ini}$, accurate at sub-percent level for $m_a \gg H_0$ and allowed dark matter fraction $f_{\rm dm}$. In the dark matter regime, the Planck bound on CDM isocurvature requires $r\ f_{\rm dm} < 0.08\,(m_a/10^{-27}\,{\rm eV})^{-1/2}$, which becomes stronger than the current BICEP tensor bound for $m_a f_{\rm dm}^2 \gtrsim 10^{-26.4}\,{\rm eV}$. For $10^{-32} \lesssim m_a/{\rm eV} \lesssim 10^{-28}$, Jeans suppression breaks the degeneracy with CDM isocurvature, leaving unique signatures, and in the dark energy regime ($m_a \lesssim H_0$), the isocurvature signal is even more highly suppressed, peaking only at the CMB quadrupole. We provide analytic scalings for both signatures. Given the tensor bound, any primary CMB detection in these two lightest regimes would indicate a non-inflationary origin of the isocurvature modes or a breakdown of the standard frozen-field misalignment scenario. A window of coexistence opens near $m_a \sim 10^{-25}$ eV and $f_{\rm dm} \gtrsim 0.1$ where both axion isocurvature and tensor modes could be discovered just below current bounds while simultaneously alleviating the $S_8$ tension.

Although the Alcubierre Warp Drive is theoretically capable of providing faster-than-light travel, it may be difficult to use for this purpose. But is it useful for slower-than-light travel? We begin by observing the that the warp bubble will act to protect the ship from dust particles and other space debris (a potentially serious hazard even at 10% the speed of light). We then explore several modifications of the Alcubierre Warp Drive, e.g. a "deflector shield", with the perspective of keeping a ship safe from collisions with particles, projectiles, rogue planets, and other dangers of space travel.

Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have indicated the presence of water in the inner regions of the disc around the young protostar PDS 70, but the origin of this water remains unclear. Here we report the discovery of variable absorption lines of neutral sodium in archival High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectra of PDS 70. These lines vary strongly and stochastically on a daily basis, in amplitude, number, and radial velocity. Our measurements indicate that this gas tends to be optically thick, and partially cover the stellar disc, meaning this fast-moving gas is often spatially confined. We explore several hypotheses for the origin of these lines, and conclude that a likely source of the observed sodium is sublimation of planetesimals that transit the star on highly elliptical orbits, reminiscent of the exocomet phenomenon seen in other seen in other extrasolar systems. These sublimating exocomets could play a role in sourcing the previously observed water in the inner, terrestrial-planet forming region of the PDS 70 system.

We study the $U(1)^4$ charged black brane solution of four-dimensional gauged supergravity and analyze the fermionic response in this geometry, which is holographically dual to $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFT ABJM models. Similar to \cite{DeWolfe:2013fha}, we show that a gap exists in the states of the conformal field theory, which corresponds to the different limiting behaviors of the two unequal chemical potentials of the four-charge geometry. We study the behavior of this gap and also the stability of the near-horizon geometry by changing the parameters of the theory in various orders. We then categorize the $56$ fermion modes of the geometry, find the coefficients of the Dirac equations for each mode, and comment on the behavior of the solution of the Dirac equation in different near-horizon limits. We then uplift the geometry to five-dimensional and then to eleven-dimensional geometries and, similar to \cite{Fareghbal:2008dy}, we show that in both cases, a piece of $\mathrm{BTZ} \times \mathrm{S}^2$ or $\mathrm{AdS}^3 \times \mathbb{R}^2$ emerges, and as a result, a decoupling sector in the field theory exists. We study the singularity of the near-horizon $4d$ geometry and the mentioned gap in these uplifted geometries.

We construct static, spherically symmetric, and asymptotically flat colored black holes in four-dimensional Einstein gravity coupled to a logarithmic nonlinear Yang--Mills field with gauge group SU(2). Unlike solutions based on the Wu--Yang ansatz, the gauge sector contains a dynamical radial amplitude, and the configurations arise from a genuinely coupled nonlinear boundary-value problem. An integral identity excludes nontrivial sign-definite solutions approaching a magnetically neutral Yang--Mills vacuum, implying that colored configurations must be nodal. We numerically construct the fundamental one-node branch and verify its convergence to the ordinary Einstein--Yang--Mills colored black hole in the linear limit. Increasing the logarithmic nonlinearity lowers the ADM mass, raises the Hawking temperature, and displaces the gauge-field node toward larger radii. Branch termination is not detected over the full range of parameters investigated. Instead, the exterior geometry approaches Schwarzschild on fixed radial domains, while the colored structure develops an increasingly extended tail. Although no independent asymptotic Yang--Mills charge is present, the non-Abelian hair leaves a subleading imprint on the far-field geometry. Inside the event horizon, the representative nonlinear solutions possess no Cauchy horizon and approach a Schwarzschild-type spacelike curvature singularity, with a finite limiting mass and no oscillary mass inflation. The recovery of the linear theory is therefore nonuniform near the cetonter: solutions that are nearly linear in the exterior eventually enter the strongly logarithmic regime in the deep interior. Finally, turning points of the Hawking temperature produce divergences and sign changes in heat capacity, indicating transitions of local thermodynamic stability.

We investigate the semiclassical Hawking evaporation of a two-dimensional Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger (CGHS) black hole perturbed by first-order Horndeski scalar-tensor couplings. By evaluating the exact scalar curvature invariants, we demonstrate that coordinate singularities near the apparent horizon parametrize a physical deformation of the surface gravity while preserving a strictly regular event horizon. In the linear-order $γ_3 ΦX$ coupling sector, the surface gravity and correspondingly the Hawking temperature decreases dynamically as the black hole loses mass. Extrapolating this cooling effect via a resummed temperature equation suggests that evaporation halts, potentially leaving behind a stable, macroscopic cold remnant at the boundary of perturbative control. Utilizing both the conformal trace anomaly and the Robinson-Wilczek gravitational anomaly, we establish that the asymptotic radiation flux identically reflects this geometric shift. Consequently, the fine-grained entanglement entropy of the Hawking radiation departs from linear growth and transitions to an asymptotic logarithmic regime. This indicates that quantum information may be permanently retained within the remnant, altering the standard semiclassical Page curve without requiring a breakdown of horizon regularity.

We give a Lefschetz thimble definition of the Chern--Simons--Kodama wavefunctional in Lorentzian self-dual gravity with positive cosmological constant. By complexifying the connection and choosing the Lefschetz thimble attached to the self-dual de~Sitter saddle, Witten's analytic continuation of Chern--Simons theory replaces the real contour, on which the defining integral is at best conditionally convergent, by an absolutely convergent integration cycle and yields a controlled semiclassical expansion. The relevant integrand is the full holomorphic exponential $e^{I}$, with $I=κY_{\rm CS}+(\text{source})$, and the steepest descent flow is governed by the Morse function $h=\operatorname{Re} I$. In the homogeneous isotropic de Sitter reduction, the construction reproduces the Hartle--Hawking Airy wavefunction. In the Bianchi~IX truncation, we take the Lefschetz thimble attached to the expanding de~Sitter saddle (the contracting branch defines a conjugate Lefschetz thimble); within this sector, the symmetric configuration is the only critical point for $Λ>0$. The corresponding Lefschetz thimble contains one trace direction with the FRW Airy structure and two anisotropic shear directions that are real-Gaussian damped at leading quadratic order. This gives a finite Bianchi~IX wavefunction which, to leading order, is the FRW Airy factor multiplied by a real anisotropy Gaussian. Thus, the Airy behavior is not an artifact of the one-dimensional minisuperspace reduction, but the leading form of the wavefunction on the Lefschetz thimble. We also discuss how the Lefschetz thimble prescription interfaces with Lorentzian reality conditions.

Classical fractons are Hamiltonian systems that can develop attractors after projection onto configuration or shape variables, although the full phase space admits none. We study a scale-invariant, dipole-conserving two-parameter family of fracton Hamiltonians $H_{α,β}$. By separating coordinates into scale and shape, we obtain autonomous shape dynamics that admit fixed points which leave a purely scale evolution of the form $R(t)\propto |t|^{α/(α-β)}$. The shape fixed points, which determine the distribution of the expanding particles, are central configurations of power-law Riesz potentials. The distinguished model $(α,β)=(-2,1)$ is unique: its scale evolution takes the Einstein-de Sitter form $R(t)\propto |t|^{2/3}$, its fixed-point equation is the equal-mass Newtonian central-configuration, its large-$N$ distribution is a homogeneous ball, and its homothetic trajectories admit a zero-energy Newtonian gravitational dual. The fixed points are locally stable, and simulations at moderate $N$ approach them from random initial data. Large $N$ simulations reveal a richer class of fixed-points: bound clusters of approximately fixed physical size retain internal motion, while their centers approach unequal-mass Newtonian central configurations and preserve large-scale homogeneity. A scale-separation conjecture yields an effective unequal-mass fracton dynamics for the centers and a corresponding zero-energy Newtonian gravitational dual. Trajectories generically exhibit a bidirectional arrow of time: scale and shape complexity grow away from a Janus point, while Boltzmann entropy grows logarithmically. Together, these features reproduce the salient structure of a flat matter-dominated cosmology. In the distinguished fracton model, all these cosmological analogues emerge as attractor properties, making it a toy model for cosmological dynamics without fine-tuning.

In particle physics the virtual N$^3$LO contribution to gluon-fusion Higgs production in the Standard Model requires four-loop multi-scale QCD amplitudes that in dimensional regularization are dominated by singular integral reduction and difficult master-integral evaluations. In this note we show that a nonlocal UV completion makes each fixed-order four-loop Feynman diagram fully convergent in four dimensions while keeping the analytic structure needed for Lehmann-Symanzik-Zimmermann (LSZ) reduction formula. For gluon-fusion $gg\!\to\!H$ we derive a closed form Schwinger-parameter representation where all loop-momentum integrals are performed analytically and thus leaving finite parameter integrals viable for direct numerical evaluation without needing the usual UV subtractions. This method heps to isolate the collider-hard contribution as a convergent four-loop form factor. The strong coupling then is defined by a finite normalization condition in the entire-function regularization scheme and it is related to the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ coupling by finite matching where after this matching, the regulator-dependent corrections decouple in the local limit $E_M\!\to\!\infty$.