Search

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is a polarization-sensitive telescope array located at an altitude of 5,200 m in the Chilean Atacama Desert and designed to measure the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over large angular scales. The CLASS array is currently observing with three telescopes covering four frequency bands: one at 40 GHz (Q); one at 90 GHz (W1); and one dichroic system at 150/220 GHz (HF). During the austral winter of 2022, we upgraded the first 90 GHz telescope (W1) by replacing four of the seven focal plane modules. These new modules contain detector wafers with an updated design, aimed at improving the optical efficiency and detector stability. We present a description of the design changes and measurements of on-sky optical efficiencies derived from observations of Jupiter., 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2208.05006

To self-consistently model galactic properties, reionization of the intergalactic medium, and the associated 21-cm signal, we have developed the algorithm polar by integrating the one-dimensional radiative transfer code grizzly with the semi-analytical galaxy formation code L-Galaxies 2020. Our proof-of-concept results are consistent with observations of the star formation rate history, UV luminosity function and the CMB Thomson scattering optical depth. We then investigate how different galaxy formation models affect UV luminosity functions and 21-cm power spectra, and find that while the former are most sensitive to the parameters describing the merger of halos, the latter have a stronger dependence on the supernovae feedback parameters, and both are affected by the escape fraction model., Comment: MNRAS accepted

Recent observations of radio relics - diffuse radio emission in galaxy clusters - have revealed that these sources are not smooth but consist of structures in the form of threads and filaments. We investigate the origin of these filamentary structures and the role of projection effects. To this end, we have developed a tool that extracts the filamentary structures from background emission. Moreover, it is capable of studying both two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. We apply our structure extractor to, both, observations and cosmological simulations of radio relics. Using Minkowski functionals, we determine the shape of the identified structures. In our 2D analysis, we find that the brightest structures in the observed and simulated maps are filaments. Our analysis of the 3D simulation data shows that radio relics do not consist of sheets but only of filaments and ribbons. Furthermore, we did not find any measurable projection effects that could hide any sheet-like structures in projection. We find that, both, the magnetic field and the shock front consist of filaments and ribbons that cause filamentary radio emission., Comment: 20 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

f(T) cosmology has shown promise in explaining aspects of cosmic evolution. In this work, we analyse constraints on leading models of f(T) gravity in the context of the recently released Pantheon+ data set, together with comparisons with previous releases. We also consider other late time data sets including cosmic chronometers and baryonic acoustic oscillation data. Our main result is that we find that the different f(T) models under investigation connect to a variety of Hubble constant, which may help alleviate the cosmic tension on this parameter.

We analyse the quenched fractions, gas content, and star formation histories of ~1200 satellite galaxies with $M_* \geq 5 \times 10^6~{\rm M}_\odot$ around 198 Milky Way- (MW) and Andromeda-like (M31) hosts in TNG50, the highest-resolution simulation of IllustrisTNG. Satellite quenched fractions are larger for smaller masses, for smaller distances to their host galaxy, and in the more massive M31-like compared to MW-like hosts. As satellites cross their host's virial radius, their gas content drops: most satellites within 300 kpc lack detectable gas reservoirs at $z=0$, unless they are massive like the Magellanic Clouds and M32. Nevertheless, their stellar assembly exhibits a large degree of diversity. On average, the cumulative star formation histories are more extended for brighter, more massive satellites with a later infall, and for those in less massive hosts. Based on these relationships, we can even infer infall periods for observedMWand M31 dwarfs: e.g. 0-4 Gyr ago for the Magellanic Clouds and Leo I, 4-8 and 0-2 Gyr ago for M32 and IC 10, respectively. Ram pressure stripping (in combination with tidal stripping) deprives TNG50 satellites of their gas reservoirs and ultimately quenches their star formation, even though only a few per cent of the present-day satellites around the 198 TNG50 MW/M31-like hosts appear as jellyfish. The typical time since quenching for currently quenched TNG50 satellites is $6.9^{+2.5}_{-3.3}~{\rm Gyr}$ ago. The TNG50 results are consistent with the quenched fractions and stellar assembly of observed MW and M31 satellites, however, satellites of the SAGA survey with $M_* \sim 10^{8-9}~{\rm M}_\odot$ exhibit lower quenched fractions than TNG50 and other, observed analogues., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a novel technique called "photometric IGM tomography" to map the intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z\simeq4.9$ in the COSMOS field. It utilizes deep narrow-band (NB) imaging to photometrically detect faint Ly$\alpha$ forest transmission in background galaxies across the Subaru/Hyper-Suprime Cam (HSC)'s $1.8\rm\,sq.\,deg$ field of view and locate Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) in the same cosmic volume. Using ultra-deep HSC images and Bayesian spectral energy distribution fitting, we measure the Ly$\alpha$ forest transmission at $z\simeq4.9$ along a large number ($140$) of background galaxies selected from the DEIMOS10k spectroscopic catalogue at $4.98, Comment: 27 pages, 21 figures, accepted by MNRAS, full tables available as online supplementary material

The abundance, temperature, and clustering of metals in the intergalactic medium are important parameters for understanding their cosmic evolution and quantifying their impact on cosmological analysis with the Ly $\alpha$ forest. The properties of these systems are typically measured from individual quasar spectra redward of the quasar's Ly $\alpha$ emission line, yet that approach may provide biased results due to selection effects. We present an alternative approach to measure these properties in an unbiased manner with the two-point statistics commonly employed to quantify large-scale structure. Our model treats the observed flux of a large sample of quasar spectra as a continuous field and describes the one-dimensional, two-point statistics of this field with three parameters per ion: the abundance (column density distribution), temperature (Doppler parameter) and clustering (cloud-cloud correlation function). We demonstrate this approach on multiple ions (e.g., C IV, Si IV, Mg II) with early data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and high-resolution spectra from the literature. Our initial results show some evidence that the C IV abundance is higher than previous measurements and evidence for abundance evolution over time. The first full year of DESI observations will have over an order of magnitude more quasar spectra than this study. In a future paper we will use those data to measure the growth of clustering and its impact on the Ly $\alpha$ forest, as well as test other DESI analysis infrastructure such as the pipeline noise estimates and the resolution matrix., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, accepted to MNRAS

Our view of the last-scattering surface in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is obscured by secondary anisotropies, sourced by scattering, extragalactic emission and gravitational processes between recombination and observation. Whilst it is established that non-Gaussianity from the correlation between the integrated-Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect and gravitational lensing can significantly bias primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) searches, recent work by Hill (2018) has suggested that other combinations of secondary anisotropies can also produce significant biases. Building on that work, we use the WebSky and Sehgal et al.(2010) simulations to perform an extensive examination of possible biases to PNG measurements for the local, equilateral and orthogonal shapes. For a Planck-like CMB experiment, without foreground cleaning, we find significant biases from cosmic infrared background (CIB)-lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ)-lensing bispectra for the local and orthogonal templates, and from CIB and tSZ bispectra for the equilateral template. For future experiments, such as the Simons Observatory, biases from correlations between the ISW effect and the tSZ and CIB will also become important. Finally we investigate whether foreground-cleaning techniques are able to suppress these biases sufficiently. We find that the majority of these biases are effectively suppressed by the internal-linear-combination method and the total bias to Planck-like and SO-like experiments is less than the $1\,\sigma$ statistical error. However, the small total bias arises from the cancellation of several $1\,\sigma$ biases for Planck-like experiments and $2\,\sigma$ biases for SO-like. As this cancellation is likely sensitive to the precise modelling, to ensure robustness against these biases explicit removal methods should be used, likely at the cost of decreased constraining power.

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies are among the oldest and most metal-poor galaxies in the cosmos, observed to contain no gas and a high dark matter mass fraction. Understanding the chemical abundance dispersion in such extreme environments could shed light on the very first generations of stars. We present a novel inhomogeneous chemical evolution model, {\tt i-GEtool}, that we apply to two ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, Carina II and Reticulum II, both satellites of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our model is based on the Monte Carlo sampling of the initial mass function as star formation proceeds in different gas cells of the galaxy volume. We account for the chemical enrichment of Supernova bubbles as they spread in the interstellar medium, causing dispersion in the elemental abundances. We recreate the abundance patterns of $\alpha$- and odd-$\textit{Z}$ elements, predicting two sequences in [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] at all metallicities. Our models underestimate [C/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] because of the large uncertainty in the adopted stellar nucleosynthesis yields. We discuss that the observed C and N abundances had likely been affected by internal mixing processes, which changed the initial surface abundances in the red giants. Our Supernova feedback scheme is responsible for driving galactic outflows, which quench the star formation activity at early times. We predict an average outflow mass-loading factor $\approx 10^{3}$, which extrapolates towards very low galaxy stellar masses the trend observed at high masses. Finally, by combining our model with the MIST isochrone database, we compare our synthetic colour-magnitude diagrams to observations., Comment: 19 Pages, 12 Figures, 1 Table, Accepted to MNRAS

The mergers of supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) can serve as standard sirens: the gravitational wave (GW) analog of standard candles. The upcoming space-borne GW detectors will be able to discover such systems and estimate their luminosity distances precisely. Unfortunately, weak gravitational lensing can induce significant errors in the measured distance of these standard sirens at high redshift, severely limiting their usefulness as precise distance probes. The uncertainty due to weak lensing can be reduced if the lensing magnification of the siren can be estimated independently, a procedure called 'delensing'. With the help of up-to-date numerical simulations, here we investigate how much the weak-lensing errors can be reduced using convergence maps reconstructed from shear measurements. We also evaluate the impact of delensing on cosmological parameter estimation with bright standard sirens. We find that the weak-lensing errors for sirens at $z_s = 2.9$ can be reduced by about a factor of two on average, but to achieve this would require expensive ultra-deep field observations for every siren. Such an approach is likely to be practical in only limited cases, and the reduction in the weak-lensing error is therefore likely to be insufficient to significantly improve the cosmological parameter estimation. We conclude that performing delensing corrections is unlikely to be worthwhile, in contrast to the more positive expectations presented in previous studies. For delensing to become more practicable and useful in the future will require significant improvements in the resolution/depth of weak-lensing surveys and/or the methods to reconstruct convergence maps from these surveys., 20 pages, 22 figures, to be published in MNRAS

One of the most crucial yet poorly constrained parameters in modelling the ionizing emissivity is the escape fraction of photons from star-forming galaxies. Several theoretical and observational studies have been conducted over the past few years, but consensus regarding its redshift evolution has yet to be achieved. We present here the first non-parametric reconstruction of this parameter as a function of redshift from a data-driven reionization model using a Gaussian Process Regression method. Our finding suggests a mild redshift evolution of escape fraction with a mean value of $4\%,7\%,\sim10\%$ at $z=2,6,12$. However, a constant escape fraction of $6-10\%$ at $z\gtrsim 6$ is still allowed by current data and also matches other reionization-related observations. With the detection of fainter high redshift galaxies from upcoming observations of JWST, the approach presented here will be a robust tool to put the most stringent constraint on escape fraction as well as reionization histories., Comment: accepted in MNRAS Letter

We present the splashback radius measurements around the SRG/eROSITA eFEDS X-ray selected galaxy clusters by cross-correlating them with HSC S19A photometric galaxies. The X-ray selection is expected to be less affected by systematics related to projection that affects optical cluster finder algorithms. We use a nearly volume-limited sample of 109 galaxy clusters selected in 0.5-2.0 keV band having luminosity $L_X > 10^{43.5}\,{\rm erg s^{-1} h^{-2}}$ within the redshift $z, Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures

The next generation of cosmological surveys will have unprecedented measurement precision, hence they hold the power to put theoretical ideas to the most stringent tests yet. However, in order to realise the full potential of these measurements, we need to ensure that we apply the most effective analytical tools. We need to identify which cosmological observables are the best cosmological probes. Two commonly used cosmological observables are galaxy redshift number counts and cosmic magnification. Both of these observables have been investigated extensively in cosmological analyses, but only separately. In the light of interacting dark energy (IDE) emerging as a plausible means of alleviating current cosmological tensions, we investigate both observables on large scales in a universe with IDE, using the angular power spectrum: taking into account all known terms, including relativistic corrections, in the observed overdensity. Our results suggest that (given multi-tracer analysis) measuring relativistic effects with cosmic magnification will be relatively better than with galaxy redshift number counts, at all redshifts z. Conversely, without relativistic effects, galaxy redshift number counts will be relatively better in probing the imprint of IDE, at all z. At low z (up to around z = 0.1), relativistic effects enable cosmic magnification to be a relatively better probe of the IDE imprint; while at higher z (up to z < 3), galaxy redshift number counts become the better probe of IDE imprint. However, at z = 3 and higher, our results suggest that either of the observables will suffice., 11 pages, 5 figures (v2: Minor general revision; Fig. 1 improved; new figure added; conclusion remains unchanged. Version accepted by MNRAS.)

Recent data from the James Webb Space Telescope suggest that there are realistic prospects for detecting the earliest generation of stars at redshift ~20. These metal-poor, gaseous Population III (Pop III) stars are likely in the mass range 10-1000 solar masses. We develop a framework for calculating the abundances of Pop III stars as well as the distribution of the most massive Pop III stars based on an application of extreme-value statistics. Our calculations use the star formation rate density from a recent simulation to calibrate the star-formation efficiency from which the Pop III stellar abundances are derived. Our extreme-value modelling suggests that the most massive Pop III stars at redshifts 10-20 are likely to be $\gtrsim10^3-10^4\,{\rm M}_\odot$. Such extreme Pop III stars were sufficiently numerous to be the seeds of supermassive black holes at high redshifts and possibly source detectable gravitational waves. We conclude that the extreme-value formalism provides an effective way to constrain the stellar initial mass function., Comment: MNRAS accepted

We have found evidence of bulk velocities following active galactic nucleus (AGN) bubbles in the Virgo cluster and galaxy motions in the Centaurus cluster. In order to increase the sample and improve our understanding of the intracluster medium (ICM), we present the results of a detailed mapping of the Ophiuchus cluster with {\it XMM-Newton} to measure bulk flows through very accurate Fe~K measurements. To measure the gas velocities we use a novel EPIC-pn energy scale calibration, which uses the Cu K$\alpha$ instrumental line as reference for the line emission. We created 2D spectral maps for the velocity, metallicity, temperature, density, entropy and pressure with a spatial resolution of 0.25$'$ ($\sim 26$~kpc). The ICM velocities in the central regions where AGN feedback is most important are similar to the velocity of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). We have found a large interface region where the velocity changes abruptly from blueshifted to redshifted gas which follows a sharp surface brightness discontinuity. We also found that the metallicities and temperatures do not change as we move outwards from the giant radio fossil previously identified in radio observations of the cluster. Finally, we have found a contribution from the kinetic component of $, Comment: 15 pages, 20 figures. This paper is part of a series on the ICM velocity structure using XMM-Newton observations. Related series papers: arXiv:2109.06213, arXiv:2203.12635

Multiwavelength studies indicate that nuclear activity and bulge properties are closely related, but the details remain unclear. To study this further, we combine $Hubble~Space~Telescope$ bulge structural and photometric properties with 1.5 GHz, $e$-MERLIN nuclear radio continuum data from the LeMMINGs survey for a large sample of 173 `active' galaxies (LINERs and Seyferts) and `inactive' galaxies (H IIs and absorption line galaxies, ALGs). Dividing our sample into active and inactive, they define distinct (radio core luminosity)$-$(bulge mass), L_R,core-M_*,bulge, relations, with a mass turnover at M_*, bulge ~ 10^(9.8 +- 0.3) M_sun (supermassive black hole mass M_BH ~ 10^(6.8 +- 0.3) M_sun), which marks the transition from AGN-dominated nuclear radio emission in more massive bulges to that mainly driven by stellar processes in low-mass bulges. None of our 10/173 bulgeless galaxies host an AGN. The AGN fraction increases with increasing M_*, bulge such that f_optical_AGN $\propto$ M_*,bulge^(0.24 +- 0.06) and f_radio_AGN $\propto$ M_*,bulge^(0.24 +- 0.05). Between M_*,bulge ~ 10^8.5 and 10^11.3 M_sun, f_optical_AGN steadily rises from 15 +- 4 to 80 +- 5 per cent. We find that at fixed bulge mass, the radio loudness, nuclear radio activity and the (optical and radio) AGN fraction exhibit no dependence on environment. Radio-loud hosts preferentially possess an early-type morphology than radio-quiet hosts, the two types are however indistinguishable in terms of bulge S\'ersic index and ellipticity, while results on the bulge inner logarithmic profile slope are inconclusive. We finally discuss the importance of bulge mass in determining the AGN triggering processes, including potential implications for the nuclear radio emission in nearby galaxies., Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The light-cone (LC) anisotropy arises due to cosmic evolution of the cosmic dawn 21-cm signal along the line-of-sight (LoS) axis of the observation volume. The LC effect makes the signal statistically non-ergodic along the LoS axis. The multi-frequency angular power spectrum (MAPS) provides an unbiased alternative to the popular 3D power spectrum as it does not assume statistical ergodicity along every direction in the signal volume. Unlike the 3D power spectrum which mixes the cosmic evolution of the 21-cm signal along the LoS $k$ modes, MAPS keeps the evolution information disentangled. Here we first study the impact of different underlying physical processes during cosmic dawn on the behaviour of the 21-cm MAPS using simulations of various different scenarios and models. We also make error predictions in 21-cm MAPS measurements considering only the system noise and cosmic variance for mock observations of HERA, NenuFAR and SKA-Low. We find that $100~{\rm h}$ of HERA observations will be able to measure 21-cm MAPS at $\geq 3\sigma$ for $\ell \lesssim 1000$ with $0.1\,{\rm MHz}$ channel-width. The better sensitivity of SKA-Low allows reaching this sensitivity up to $\ell \lesssim 3000$. Note that due to the difference in the frequency coverage of the various experiements, the CD-EoR model considered for NenuFAR is different than those used for the HERA and SKA-Low predictions. Considering NenuFAR with the new model, measurements $\geq 2\sigma$ are possible only for $\ell \lesssim 600$ with $0.2\,{\rm MHz}$ channel-width and for a ten times longer observation time of $t_{\rm obs} = 1000~{\rm h}$. However, for the range $300 \lesssim \ell \lesssim 600$ and $t_{\rm obs}=1000~{\rm h}$ more than $3\sigma$ measurements are still possible for NenuFAR when combining consecutive frequency channels within a $5 ~{\rm MHz}$ band., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Using a quantum-mechanical close-coupling method, we calculate cross sections for fine structure excitation and relaxation of Si and S atoms in collisions with atomic hydrogen. Rate coefficients are calculated over a range of temperatures for astrophysical applications. We determine the temperature-dependent critical densities for the relaxation of Si and S in collisions with H and compare these to the critical densities for collisions with electrons. The present calculation should be useful in modeling environments exhibiting the [S i] 25 {\mu}m and [S i] 57 {\mu}m far-infrared emission lines or where cooling of S and Si by collisions with H are of interest., Comment: Updated table 2

In a sky-averaged 21-cm signal experiment, the uncertainty on the extracted signal depends mainly on the covariance between the foreground and 21-cm signal models. In this paper, we construct these models using the modes of variation obtained from the Singular Value Decomposition of a set of simulated foreground and 21-cm signals. We present a strategy to reduce this overlap between the 21-cm and foreground modes by simultaneously fitting the spectra from multiple different antennas, which can be used in combination with the method of utilizing the time dependence of foregrounds while fitting multiple drift scan spectra. To demonstrate this idea, we consider two different foreground models (i) a simple foreground model, where we assume a constant spectral index over the sky, and (ii) a more realistic foreground model, with a spatial variation of the spectral index. For the simple foreground model, with just a single antenna design, we are able to extract the signal with good accuracy if we simultaneously fit the data from multiple time slices. The 21-cm signal extraction is further improved when we simultaneously fit the data from different antennas as well. This improvement becomes more pronounced while using the more realistic mock observations generated from the detailed foreground model. We find that even if we fit multiple time slices, the recovered signal is biased and inaccurate for a single antenna. However, simultaneously fitting the data from different antennas reduces the bias and the uncertainty by a factor of 2-3 on the extracted 21-cm signal., 12 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Accompanying code is available https://github.com/anchal-009/SAVED21cm

Precision antenna calibration is required for mitigating the impact of foreground contamination in 21 cm cosmological radio surveys. One widely studied source of error is the effect of missing point sources in the calibration sky model; however, poorly understood diffuse galactic emission also creates a calibration bias that can complicate the clean separation of foregrounds from the 21 cm signal. In this work, we present a technique for suppressing this bias with temporal filtering of radio interferometric visibilities observed in a drift-scan mode. We demonstrate this technique on mock simulations of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) experiment. Inspecting the recovered calibration solutions, we find that our technique reduces spurious errors by over an order of magnitude. This improved accuracy approaches the required accuracy needed to make a fiducial detection of the 21 cm signal with HERA, but is dependent on a number of external factors that we discuss. We also explore different types of temporal filtering techniques and discuss their relative performance and trade-offs.

Wave (fuzzy) dark matter ($\psi$DM) consists of ultralight bosons, featuring a solitonic core within a granular halo. Here we extend $\psi$DM to two components, with distinct particle masses $m$ and coupled only through gravity, and investigate the resulting soliton-halo structure via cosmological simulations. Specifically, we assume $\psi$DM contains $75$ per cent major component and $25$ per cent minor component, fix the major-component particle mass to $m_{\rm major}=1\times10^{-22}\,{\rm eV}$, and explore two different minor-component particle masses with $m_{\rm major}:m_{\rm minor}=3:1$ and $1:3$, respectively. For $m_{\rm major}:m_{\rm minor}=3:1$, we find that (i) the major- and minor-component solitons coexist, have comparable masses, and are roughly concentric. (ii) The soliton peak density is significantly lower than the single-component counterpart, leading to a smoother soliton-to-halo transition and rotation curve. (iii) The combined soliton mass of both components follows the same single-component core-halo mass relation. In dramatic contrast, for $m_{\rm major}:m_{\rm minor}=1:3$, a minor-component soliton cannot form with the presence of a stable major-component soliton; the total density profile, for both halo and soliton, is thus dominated by the major component and closely follows the single-component case. To support this finding, we propose a toy model illustrating that it is difficult to form a soliton in a hot environment associated with a deep gravitational potential. The work demonstrates the extra flexibility added to the multi-component $\psi$DM model can resolve observational tensions over the single-component model while retaining its key features., Comment: 19 pages, 24 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are a key catalyst of galaxy formation and evolution, leading to an observed correlation between SMBH mass $M_{\rm BH}$ and host galaxy velocity dispersion $\sigma_{\rm e}$. Outside the local Universe, measurements of $M_{\rm BH}$ are usually only possible for SMBHs in an active state: limiting sample size and introducing selection biases. Gravitational lensing makes it possible to measure the mass of non-active SMBHs. We present models of the $z=0.169$ galaxy-scale strong lens Abell~1201. A cD galaxy in a galaxy cluster, it has sufficient `external shear' that a magnified image of a $z = 0.451$ background galaxy is projected just $\sim 1$ kpc from the galaxy centre. Using multi-band Hubble Space Telescope imaging and the lens modeling software $\texttt{PyAutoLens}$ we reconstruct the distribution of mass along this line of sight. Bayesian model comparison favours a point mass with $M_{\rm BH} = 3.27 \pm 2.12\times10^{10}\,$M$_{\rm \odot}$ (3$\sigma$ confidence limit); an ultramassive black hole. One model gives a comparable Bayesian evidence without a SMBH, however we argue this model is nonphysical given its base assumptions. This model still provides an upper limit of $M_{\rm BH} \leq 5.3 \times 10^{10}\,$M$_{\rm \odot}$, because a SMBH above this mass deforms the lensed image $\sim 1$ kpc from Abell 1201's centre. This builds on previous work using central images to place upper limits on $M_{\rm BH}$, but is the first to also place a lower limit and without a central image being observed. The success of this method suggests that surveys during the next decade could measure thousands more SMBH masses, and any redshift evolution of the $M_{\rm BH}$--$\sigma_{\rm e}$ relation. Results are available at https://github.com/Jammy2211/autolens_abell_1201., Comment: Accepted in MNRAS, 27 pages, 22 figures

The density profiles of dark matter haloes contain rich information about their growth history and physical properties. One particularly interesting region is the splashback radius, $R_{\rm sp}$, which marks the transition between particles orbiting in the halo and particles undergoing first infall. While the dependence of $R_{\rm sp}$ on the recent accretion rate is well established and theoretically expected, it is not clear exactly what parts of the accretion history $R_{\rm sp}$ responds to, and what other halo properties might additionally influence its position. We comprehensively investigate these questions by correlating the dynamically measured splashback radii of a large set of simulated haloes with their individual growth histories as well as their structural, dynamical, and environmental properties. We find that $R_{\rm sp}$ is sensitive to the accretion over one crossing time but largely insensitive to the prior history (in contrast to concentration, which probes earlier epochs). All secondary correlations are much weaker, but we discern a relatively higher $R_{\rm sp}$ in less massive, older, more elliptical, and more tidally deformed haloes. Despite these minor influences, we conclude that the splashback radius is a clean indicator of a halo's growth over the past dynamical time. We predict that the magnitude gap should be a promising observable indicator of a halo's accretion rate and splashback radius., 13 pages, 12 figures (to be submitted to MNRAS)

We present an analysis of two seasons of archival, multi-frequency VLA monitoring of the quad lens system JVAS B1422+231, the 15-GHz data of which have previously been published. The 8.4- and 15-GHz variability curves show significant variability, especially in polarization, but lack features on short time-scales that would be necessary for an accurate measurement of the very short predicted time delays ($\le$1 d) between the three bright images. Time delays can only realistically be measured to the very faint image D and for the first time we detect its long-term variability and determine its polarization properties. However, image-dependent (extrinsic) variability (including variations on time-scales of hours) is present in multiple images and the magnitude of this is largest in image D at 15 GHz ($\pm$10 per cent). As the variations appear to increase in amplitude with frequency, we suggest that the most likely cause is microlensing by compact objects in the lensing galaxy. Combining the monitoring data allows us to detect a faint arc of emission lying between images B and C and the jets responsible for this are imaged using archival VLBA data. Finally, we have also measured the rotation measure of the three bright images and detected the polarization properties of image D., 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We propose a simple analytic fit for the power spectrum of scalar (curvature) perturbations during inflation, in order to describe slow roll of inflaton and formation of primordial black holes in the early universe, in the framework of single-field models. Our fit is given by a sum of the power spectrum in the slow-roll approximation, needed for a viable description of the cosmic microwave background radiation in agreement with Planck/BICEP/Keck measurements, and the log-normal (Gaussian) fit for the power spectrum enhancement (peak) needed for efficient production of primordial black holes. We use the T-type $\alpha$-attractor models in order to describe slow-roll inflation. Demanding the location and height of the peak to yield the masses of primordial black holes in the asteroid-size window allowed for the whole (current) dark matter to be composed of the primordial black holes, we find the restrictions on the remaining parameters and, most notably, on the width of the peak., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX; Section 4 expanded, one figure and two references added

We present an analysis of Epoch of Reionization data from Phase II of the Murchison Widefield Array using the \texttt{simpleDS} delay spectrum pipeline. Prior work analyzed the same observations using the FHD/$\varepsilon$ppsilon imaging pipeline, and so the present analysis represents the first time that both principal types of 21 cm cosmology power spectrum estimation approaches have been applied to the same data set. Our limits on the 21 cm power spectrum amplitude span a range in $k$ space of $|k| < 1~h_{100}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ with a lowest measurement of $\Delta^2(k) \leq$ $4.58\times10^3$ mK$^2$ at $k = 0.190 h_{100}\rm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and $z = 7.14$. In order to achieve these limits, we need to mitigate a previously unidentified common mode systematic in the data set. If not accounted for, this systematic introduces an overall \emph{negative} bias that can make foreground contaminated measurements appear as stringent, noise-limited constraints on the 21 cm signal amplitude. The identification of this systematic highlights the risk in modeling systematics as positive-definite contributions to the power spectrum and in ``conservatively'' interpreting all measurements as upper limits., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Accepted by MNRAS; Updated to match published version

A change in the mass of the Galaxy with time will leave its imprint on the motions of the stars, with stars having radially outward (mass loss) or inward (mass accretion) bulk motions. Here we test the feasibility of using the mean radial motion of stars in the stellar halo to constrain the rate of change of mass in the Galaxy, for example, due to decay of dark matter into invisible dark sector particles or more conservatively from the settling of baryons. In the current $\Lambda$CDM paradigm of structure formation, the stellar halo is formed by accretion of satellites onto the host galaxy. Over time, as the satellites disrupt and phase mix, the mean radial motion $\langle V_{R} \rangle$ of the stellar halo is eventually expected to be close to zero. But most halos have substructures due to incomplete mixing of specific accretion events and this can lead to nonzero $\langle V_{R} \rangle$ in them. Using simulations, we measure the mean radial motion, $\langle V_{R} \rangle$, of stars in 13 $\Lambda$CDM stellar halos lying in a spherical shell of radius 30 kpc. We find that for most halos, the shell motion is quite small, with 75\% of halos having $\langle V_{R}\rangle \lesssim 1.2 \ {\rm km}s^{-1}$. When substructures are removed by using a clustering algorithm, $\langle V_{R}\rangle$ is reduced even further, with 75\% of halos having $\langle V_{R}\rangle \lesssim 0.6 \ {\rm km}s^{-1}$. A value of $\langle V_{R}\rangle \approx 0.6 \ {\rm km}s^{-1}$ can be attained corresponding to a galactic mass loss rate of 2\% per Gyr. We show that this can place constraints on dark matter decay parameters such as the decay lifetime and the kick velocity that is imparted to the daughter particle. The advent of all-sky stellar surveys involving millions to billions of stars is encouraging for detecting signatures of dark matter decay.

The determination of distance is fundamental in astrophysics. Gamma-ray sources are poorly characterized in this sense, as the limited angular resolution and poor photon-count statistics in gamma-ray astronomy makes it difficult to associate them to a multiwavelength object with known redshift. Taking the 1794 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with known redshift from the Fermi-LAT latest AGN catalog, 4LAC-DR3, we employ machine learning techniques to predict the distance of the rest of AGNs based on their spectral and spatial properties. The state-of-the-art CatBoost algorithm reaches an average 0.56 R2 score with 0.46 root-mean-squared error (RMSE), predicting an average redshift value of $z_{avg}=0.63$, with a maximum $z_{max}=1.97$. We use the SHAP explainer package to gain insights into the variables influence on the outcome, and also study the extragalactic bakground light (EBL) implications. In a second part, we use this regression model to predict the redshift of the unassociated sample of the latest LAT point-source catalog, 4FGL-DR3, using the results of a previous paper to determine the possible AGNs within them., 7 pages, 7 figures. Matches the accepted MNRAS version

The observed excess radio background has remained a puzzle for over a decade. A recent new physics solution involves dark matter that decays into dark photons in the presence of a thermal dark photon background. The produced non-thermal dark photon spectrum then converts into standard photons around the reionization era, yielding an approximate power-law radio excess with brightness temperature $T(\nu)\simeq \nu^{-2.5}$ over a wide range of frequencies, $\nu$. This simple power-law model comes intriguingly close to the current data, even if several ingredients are required to make it work. In this paper, we investigate some of the details of this model, showcasing the importance of individual effects. In particular, significant deviation from a power law are present at $\nu\lesssim 100\,{\rm MHz}$ and $\nu\gtrsim 1\,{\rm GHz}$. These effects result in improving the fit to data compared to a power-law spectrum, and may become testable in future observations. We also highlight independent signatures that can be tested with future CMB spectral distortion experiments such as {\it PIXIE}., Comment: Comments welcome

Proximity zones of high-redshift quasars are unique probes of supermassive black hole formation, but simultaneously explaining proximity zone sizes and black hole masses has proved to be challenging. We study the robustness of some of the assumptions that are usually made to infer quasar lifetimes from proximity zone sizes. We show that small proximity zones can be readily explained by quasars that vary in brightness with a short duty cycle of $f_\mathrm{duty}\sim 0.1$ and short bright periods of $t_\mathrm{on}\sim 10^4$ yr, even for long lifetimes. We further show that reconciling this with black hole mass estimates requires the black hole to continue to grow and accrete during its obscured phase. The consequent obscured fractions of $\gtrsim$ 0.7 or higher are consistent with low-redshift measurements and models of black hole accretion. Such short duty cycles and long obscured phases are also consistent with observations of large proximity zones, thus providing a simple, unified model for proximity zones of all sizes. The large dynamic range of our simulation, and its calibration to the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, allows us to investigate the influence of the large-scale topology of reionization and the quasar's host halo mass on proximity zones. We find that incomplete reionization can impede the growth of proximity zones and make them smaller up to 30%, but the quasar host halo mass only affects proximity zones weakly and indirectly. Our work suggests that high-redshift proximity zones can be an effective tool to study quasar variability and black hole growth., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyse the $f(R)$ gravity in the so-called Jordan frame, as implemented to the isotropic Universe dynamics. The goal of the present study is to show that, according to recent data analyses of the supernovae Ia Pantheon sample, it is possible to account for an effective redshift dependence of the Hubble constant. This is achieved via the dynamics of a non-minimally coupled scalar field, as it emerges in the $f(R)$ gravity. We face the question both from an analytical and purely numerical point of view, following the same technical paradigm. We arrive to establish that the expected decay of the Hubble constant with the redshift $z$ is ensured by a form of the scalar field potential, which remains essentially constant for $z\lesssim0.3$, independently if this request is made a priori, as in the analytical approach, or obtained a posteriori, when the numerical procedure is addressed. Thus, we demonstrate that an $f(R)$ dark energy model is able to account for an apparent variation of the Hubble constant due to the rescaling of the Einstein constant by the $f(R)$ scalar mode., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters (manuscript version after the proof corrections)

The homologous collapse from rest of a uniform density sphere under its self gravity is a well-known toy model for the formation dynamics of astronomical objects ranging from stars to galaxies. Equally well-known is that the evolution of the radius with time cannot be explicitly obtained because of the transcendental nature of the differential equation solution. Rather, both radius and time are written parametrically in terms of the development angle $\theta$. We here present an explicit integral solution for radius as a function of time, exploiting methods from complex analysis recently applied to the mathematically-similar 'geometric goat problem'. Our solution can be efficiently evaluated using a Fast Fourier Transform and allows for arbitrary sampling in time, with a simple Python implementation that is $\sim$$100\times$ faster than using numerical root-finding to achieve arbitrary sampling. Our explicit solution is advantageous relative to the usual approach of first generating a uniform grid in $\theta$, since this latter results in a non-uniform radial or time sampling, less useful for applications such as generation of sub-grid physics models., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Python implementation available at https://gist.github.com/oliverphilcox/559f086f1bf63b23d55c508b2f47bad3

We investigate whether the shapes of galaxy clusters inferred from weak gravitational lensing can be used as a test of the nature of dark matter. We analyse mock weak lensing data, with gravitational lenses extracted from cosmological simulations run with two different dark matter models (CDM and SIDM). We fit elliptical NFW profiles to the shear fields of the simulated clusters. Despite large differences in the distribution of 3D shapes between CDM and SIDM, we find that the distributions of weak-lensing-inferred cluster shapes are almost indistinguishable. We trace this information loss to two causes. Firstly, weak lensing measures the shape of the projected mass distribution, not the underlying 3D shape, and projection effects wash out some of the difference. Secondly, weak lensing is most sensitive to the projected shape of clusters, on a scale approaching the virial radius (~ 1.5 Mpc), whereas SIDM shapes differ most from CDM in the inner halo. We introduce a model for the mass distribution of galaxy clusters where the ellipticity of the mass distribution can vary with distance to the centre of the cluster. While this mass distribution does not enable weak lensing data to distinguish between CDM and SIDM with cluster shapes (the ellipticity at small radii is poorly constrained by weak lensing), it could be useful when modelling combined strong and weak gravitational lensing of clusters., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome

Gravitational lensing of fast radio bursts (FRBs) offers an exciting avenue for several cosmological applications. However, it is not yet clear how many such events future surveys will detect nor how to optimally find them. We use the known properties of FRBs to forecast detection rates of gravitational lensing on delay time-scales from microseconds to years, corresponding to lens masses spanning 15 orders of magnitude. We highlight the role of the FRB redshift distribution on our ability to observe gravitational lensing. We consider cosmological lensing of FRBs by stars in foreground galaxies and show that strong stellar lensing will dominate on microsecond time-scales. Upcoming surveys such as DSA-2000 and CHORD will constrain the fraction of dark matter in compact objects (e.g. primordial black holes) and may detect millilensing events from intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or small dark matter halos. Coherent all-sky monitors will be able to detect longer-duration lensing events from massive galaxies, in addition to short time-scale lensing. Finally, we propose a new application of FRB gravitational lensing that will measure directly the circumgalactic medium of intervening galaxies.

We combine the isothermal Jeans model and the model of adiabatic halo contraction into a simple semi-analytic procedure for computing the density profile of self-interacting dark-matter (SIDM) haloes with the gravitational influence from the inhabitant galaxies. We show that the model agrees well with cosmological SIDM simulations over the entire core-forming stage and up to the onset of gravothermal core-collapse. Using this model, we show that the halo response to baryons is more diverse in SIDM than in CDM and depends sensitively on galaxy size, a desirable link in the context of the structural diversity of bright dwarf galaxies. The fast speed of the method facilitates analyses that would be challenging for numerical simulations -- notably, 1) we quantify the SIDM halo response as functions of the baryonic properties, on a fine mesh grid spanned by the baryon-to-total-mass ratio, $M_{\rm b}/M_{\rm vir}$, and galaxy compactness, $r_{1/2}/R_{\rm vir}$; 2) we show with high statistical precision that for typical Milky-Way-like systems, the SIDM profiles are similar to their CDM counterparts; and 3) we delineate the regime of gravothermal core-collapse in the $M_{\rm b}/M_{\rm vir}$-$r_{1/2}/R_{\rm vir}$ space, for a given cross section and a given halo concentration. Finally, we compare the isothermal Jeans model with the more sophisticated gravothermal fluid model, and show that the former yields faster core formation and agrees better with cosmological simulations. We attribute the difference to whether the target CDM halo is used as a boundary condition or as the initial condition for the gravothermal evolution, and thus comment on possible future improvements of the fluid model. We have made our programs for the model publicly available at https://github.com/JiangFangzhou/SIDM., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS

In this letter, we explore the quiescent lives of central galaxies using the SAGE galaxy model and Uchuu dark matter simulation. We ask three questions: (1) How much of a galaxy's life is spent in quiescence? (2) How often do galaxies transition off the main sequence? (3) What is the typical duration of a quiescent phase? We find low and high-mass galaxies spend the highest fraction of their lives in quiescence: 45 \pm 19% for log10(Mstar) < 9.0 (3.68 \pm 1.80 Gyr) and 26 \pm 25% for log10(Mstar) > 11.5 (3.46 \pm 3.30 Gyr), falling to 7 \pm 13% for galaxies in-between (0.82 \pm 1.57 Gyr). Low mass galaxies move in and out of quiescence frequently, 2.8 \pm 1.3 times on average, though only for short periods, 1.49 \pm 1.04 Gyr. This can be traced to the influence of supernova feedback on their quite stochastic evolution. Galaxies of higher mass have fewer quiescent periods, ~0.7 \pm 0.9, and their length increases with mass, peaking at 1.97 \pm 2.27 Gyr. However, our high-mass population comprises star-forming and quiescent galaxies with diverging evolutionary paths, so the actual time may be even longer. These high-mass trends are driven by radio mode feedback from supermassive black holes, which, once active, tend to remain active for extended periods., 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letters, open access version see https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slad031

We introduce a machine learning method for estimating the sensitivity of strong lens observations to dark matter subhaloes in the lens. Our training data include elliptical power-law lenses, Hubble Deep Field sources, external shear, and noise and PSF for the Euclid VIS instrument. We set the concentration of the subhaloes using a $v_\mathrm{max}$-$r_\mathrm{max}$ relation. We then estimate the dark matter subhalo sensitivity in $16{,}000$ simulated strong lens observations with depth and resolution resembling Euclid VIS images. We find that, with a $3\sigma$ detection threshold, $2.35$ per cent of pixels inside twice the Einstein radius are sensitive to subhaloes with a mass $M_\mathrm{max}\leq 10^{10}M_\odot$, $0.03$ per cent are sensitive to $M_\mathrm{max}\leq 10^{9}M_\odot$, and, the limit of sensitivity is found to be $M_\mathrm{max}=10^{8.8\pm0.2}M_\odot$. Using our sensitivity maps and assuming CDM, we estimate that Euclid-like lenses will yield $1.43^{+0.14}_{-0.11}[f_\mathrm{sub}^{-1}]$ detectable subhaloes per lens in the entire sample, but this increases to $35.6^{+0.9}_{-0.9}[f_\mathrm{sub}^{-1}]$ per lens in the most sensitive lenses. Estimates are given in units of the inverse of the substructure mass fraction $f_\mathrm{sub}^{-1}$. Assuming $f_\mathrm{sub}=0.01$, one in every $70$ lenses in general should yield a detection, or one in every $\sim$ three lenses in the most sensitive sample. From $170,000$ new strong lenses detected by Euclid, we expect $\sim 2500$ new subhalo detections. We find that the expected number of detectable subhaloes in warm dark matter models only changes relative to cold dark matter for models which have already been ruled out, i.e., those with half-mode masses $M_\mathrm{hm}>10^8M_\odot$., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, accepted by MNRAS

Modelling the growth histories of specific galaxies often involves generating the entire population of objects that arise in a given cosmology and selecting systems with appropriate properties. This approach is highly inefficient when targeting rare systems such as the extremely luminous high-redshift galaxy candidates detected by JWST. Here, we present a novel framework for generating merger trees with branches that are guaranteed to achieve a desired halo mass at a chosen redshift. This method augments extended Press Schechter theory solutions with constrained random processes known as Brownian bridges and is implemented in the open-source semi-analytic model $\texttt{Galacticus}$. We generate ensembles of constrained merger trees to predict the growth histories of seven high-redshift JWST galaxy candidates, finding that these systems most likely merge $\approx 2~\mathrm{Gyr}$ after the observation epoch and occupy haloes of mass $\gtrsim 10^{14}~M_{\mathrm{\odot}}$ today. These calculations are thousands of times more efficient than existing methods, are analytically controlled, and provide physical insights into the evolution of haloes with rapid early growth. Our constrained merger tree implementation is publicly available at http://github.com/galacticusorg/galacticus., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version

Intervening CIV absorbers are key tracers of metal-enriched gas in galaxy halos over cosmic time. Previous studies suggest that the CIV cosmic mass density ($\Omega_{\rm CIV}$) decreases slowly over 1.5 $\lesssim z\lesssim$ 5 before declining rapidly at $z\gtrsim$ 5, but the cause of this downturn is poorly understood. We characterize the $\Omega_{\rm CIV}$ evolution over 4.3 $\lesssim z\lesssim$ 6.3 using 260 absorbers found in 42 XSHOOTER spectra of $z\sim$ 6 quasars, of which 30 come from the ESO Large Program XQR-30. The large sample enables us to robustly constrain the rate and timing of the downturn. We find that $\Omega_{\rm CIV}$ decreases by a factor of 4.8 $\pm$ 2.0 over the ~300 Myr interval between $z\sim$ 4.7 and $z\sim$ 5.8. The slope of the column density (log N) distribution function does not change, suggesting that CIV absorption is suppressed approximately uniformly across 13.2 $\leq$ log N/cm$^{-2}$ < 15.0. Assuming that the carbon content of galaxy halos evolves as the integral of the cosmic star formation rate density (with some delay due to stellar lifetimes and outflow travel times), we show that chemical evolution alone could plausibly explain the fast decline in $\Omega_{\rm CIV}$ over 4.3 $\lesssim z\lesssim$ 6.3. However, the CIV/CII ratio decreases at the highest redshifts, so the accelerated decline in $\Omega_{\rm CIV}$ at $z\gtrsim$ 5 may be more naturally explained by rapid changes in the gas ionization state driven by evolution of the UV background towards the end of hydrogen reionization., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Published in MNRAS

One of the open issues of the standard cosmological model is the value of the cosmic dipole measured from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as well as from the number count of quasars and radio sources. These measurements are currently in tension, with the number count dipole being 2-5 times larger than expected from CMB measurements. This discrepancy has been pointed out as a possible indication that the cosmological principle is not valid. In this paper, we explore the possibility of detecting and estimating the cosmic dipole with gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary mergers detected by the future next-generation detectors Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. We model the expected signal and show that for binary black holes, the dipole amplitude in the number count of detections is independent of the characteristics of the population and provides a systematic-free tool to estimate the observer velocity. We introduce techniques to detect the cosmic dipole from number counting of GW detections and estimate its significance. We show that a GW dipole consistent with the amplitude of the dipole in radio galaxies would be detectable with $>3\sigma$ significance with a few years of observation ($10^6$ GW detections) and estimated with a $16\%$ precision, while a GW dipole consistent with the CMB one would require at least $10^7$ GW events for a confident detection. We also demonstrate that a total number $N_{\rm tot}$ of GW detections would be able to detect a dipole with amplitude $v_o/c \simeq1/\sqrt{N_{\rm tot}}$., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Updated to the published version. We also corrected a bug for Fig.1 and Fig.2 concerning the SNR calculation (missing 2.2 factor). Rest of the paper holds same conclusions

The origin of Carbon Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP-no) stars with low abundances of neutron-capture elements is still unclear. These stars are ubiquitous, found primarily in the Milky Way halo and ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs). To make a major step forward, we developed a data-calibrated model for Böotes I that simultaneously includes all carbon sources: supernovae and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars both from first (Pop III) stars, and subsequent normal star formation (Pop II). We demonstrate that each of these sources leaves a specific chemical signature in the gas, allowing us to identify the origin of present day CEMP-no stars through their location in the A(C)–[Fe/H] diagram. The CEMP stars with A(C) > 6 are predominantly enriched by AGB Pop II stars. We identify a new class of moderate CEMP-s stars with A(C) ∼7 and 0 < [Ba/Fe] < + 1, imprinted by winds from AGB stars. True Pop III descendants are predicted to have A(C) < 6 and a constant [C/Mg] with [Fe/H], in perfect agreement with observations in Böotes I and the Milky Way halo. For the first time we now have a complete picture of the origins of CEMP-no stars which can and will be verified with future observations.

The relationship linking a galaxy cluster's total mass with the concentration of its mass profile and its redshift is a fundamental prediction of the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm of cosmic structure formation. However, confronting those predictions with observations is complicated by the fact that simulated clusters are not representative of observed samples where detailed mass profile constraints are possible. In this work, we calculate the Symmetry-Peakiness-Alignment (SPA) morphology metrics for maps of X-ray emissivity from THE THREE HUNDRED project hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters at four redshifts, and thereby select a sample of morphologically relaxed, simulated clusters, using observational criteria. These clusters have on average earlier formation times than the full sample, confirming that they are both morphologically and dynamically more relaxed than typical. We constrain the concentration-mass-redshift relation of both the relaxed and complete sample of simulated clusters, assuming power-law dependences on mass ($\kappa_m$) and $1+z$ ($\kappa_\zeta$), finding $\kappa_m = -0.12 \pm 0.07$ and $\kappa_\zeta = -0.27 \pm 0.19$ for the relaxed subsample. From an equivalently selected sample of massive, relaxed clusters observed with ${\it Chandra}$, we find $\kappa_m = -0.12 \pm 0.08$ and $\kappa_\zeta = -0.48 \pm 0.19$, in good agreement with the simulation predictions. The simulated and observed samples also agree well on the average concentration at a pivot mass and redshift providing further validation of the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm in the properties of the largest gravitationally collapsed structures observed. This also represents the first clear detection of decreasing concentration with redshift, a longstanding prediction of simulations, in data., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by MNRAS

The current generation of galaxy simulations can resolve individual giant molecular clouds, the progenitors of dense star clusters. But the evolutionary fate of these young massive clusters, and whether they can become the old globular clusters (GCs) observed in many galaxies, is determined by a complex interplay of internal dynamical processes and external galactic effects. We present the first star-by-star $N$-body models of massive ($N\sim10^5-10^7$) star clusters formed in a FIRE-2 MHD simulation of a Milky Way-mass galaxy, with the relevant initial conditions and tidal forces extracted from the cosmological simulation. We select 895 ($\sim 30\%$) of the YMCs with $ > 6\times10^4M_{\odot}$ from Grudić et al.~2022 and integrate them to $z=0$ using the Cluster Monte Carlo Code, \texttt{CMC}. This procedure predicts a MW-like system with 148 GCs, predominantly formed during the early, bursty mode of star formation. Our GCs are younger, less massive, and more core-collapsed than clusters in the Milky Way or M31. This results from the assembly history and age-metallicity relationship of the host galaxy: younger clusters are preferentially born in stronger tidal fields and initially retain fewer stellar-mass black holes, causing them to lose mass faster and reach core collapse sooner than older GCs. Our results suggest that the masses and core/half-light radii of GCs are shaped not only by internal dynamical processes, but also by the specific evolutionary history of their host galaxies. These results emphasize that $N$-body studies with realistic stellar physics are crucial to understanding the evolution and present-day properties of GC systems., 24 pages, 16 figures, matches version accepted by MNRAS

The distribution of the spin directions of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been a topic of debate in the past two decades, with conflicting conclusions reported even in cases where the same data was used. Here we follow one of the previous experiments by applying the SpArcFiRe algorithm to annotate the spin directions in original dataset of Galaxy Zoo 1. The annotation of the galaxy spin directions is done after a first step of selecting the spiral galaxies in three different manners: manual analysis by Galaxy Zoo classifications, by a model-driven computer analysis, and with no selection of spiral galaxies. The results show that when spiral galaxies are selected by Galaxy Zoo volunteers, the distribution of their spin directions as determined by SpArcFiRe is not random, which agrees with previous reports. When selecting the spiral galaxies using a model-driven computer analysis or without selecting the spiral galaxies at all, the distribution is also not random. Simple binomial distribution analysis shows that the probability of the parity violation to occur by chance is lower than 0.01. Fitting the spin directions as observed from Earth to cosine dependence exhibits a dipole axis with statistical strength of 2.33$\sigma$ to 3.97$\sigma$. These experiments show that regardless of the selection mechanism and the analysis method, all experiments show similar conclusions. These results are aligned with previous reports using other methods and telescopes, suggesting that the spin directions of spiral galaxies as observed from Earth exhibit a dipole axis formed by their spin directions. Possible explanations can be related to the large-scale structure of the Universe, or to internal structure of galaxies. The catalogs of annotated galaxies generated as part of this study are available., Comment: Advances in Astronomy, accepted

We present a method to reconstruct the initial linear-regime matter density field from the late-time non-linearly evolved density field in which we channel the output of standard first-order reconstruction to a convolutional neural network (CNN). Our method shows dramatic improvement over the reconstruction of either component alone. We show why CNNs are not well-suited for reconstructing the initial density directly from the late-time density: CNNs are local models, but the relationship between initial and late-time density is not local. Our method leverages standard reconstruction as a preprocessing step, which inverts bulk gravitational flows sourced over very large scales, transforming the residual reconstruction problem from long-range to local and making it ideally suited for a CNN. We develop additional techniques to account for redshift distortions, which warp the density fields measured by galaxy surveys. Our method improves the range of scales of high-fidelity reconstruction by a factor of 2 in wavenumber above standard reconstruction, corresponding to a factor of 8 increase in the number of well-reconstructed modes. In addition, our method almost completely eliminates the anisotropy caused by redshift distortions. As galaxy surveys continue to map the Universe in increasingly greater detail, our results demonstrate the opportunity offered by CNNs to untangle the non-linear clustering at intermediate scales more accurately than ever before.

We present a new suite of cosmological zoom-in hydrodynamical ($\approx 20\, \mathrm{pc}$ spatial resolution) simulations of Milky-Way mass galaxies to study how a varying mass ratio for a Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) progenitor impacts the $z=0$ chemodynamics of halo stars. Using the genetic modification approach, we create five cosmological histories for a Milky-Way-mass dark matter halo ($M_{200} \approx 10^{12} \, M_\mathrm{\odot}$), incrementally increasing the stellar mass ratio of a $z\approx2$ merger from 1:25 to 1:2, while fixing the galaxy's final dynamical, stellar mass and large-scale environment. We find markedly different morphologies at $z=0$ following this change in early history, with a growing merger resulting in increasingly compact and bulge-dominated galaxies. Despite this structural diversity, all galaxies show a radially-biased population of inner halo stars like the Milky-Way's GSE which, surprisingly, has a similar magnitude, age, $\rm [Fe/H]$ and $\rm [\alpha/Fe]$ distribution whether the $z\approx2$ merger is more minor or major. This arises because a smaller ex-situ population at $z\approx2$ is compensated by a larger population formed in an earlier merger-driven starburst whose contribution to the GES can grow dynamically over time, with both populations strongly overlapping in the $\rm [Fe/H]-\rm [\alpha/Fe]$ plane. Our study demonstrates that multiple high-redshift histories can lead to similar $z=0$ chemodynamical features in the halo, highlighting the need for additional constraints to distinguish them, and the importance of considering the full spectrum of progenitors when interpreting $z=0$ data to reconstruct our Galaxy's past., Comment: Matching accepted version after minor changes

We investigate the fraction of baryon mass in intergalactic medium (fIGM), using 18 well-localized fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the redshift range z ∈ (0.0039, 0.66). We construct a five-parameter Bayesian inference model, with the probability distributions of dispersion measures (DMs) of IGM and host galaxy properly taken into account. To check the possible redshift evolution, we parametrize fIGM as a mildly evolving function of redshift, fIGM = fIGM,0[1 + αz/(1 + z)]. By simultaneously constraining five parameters, we get $f_\mathrm{IGM,0} = 0.92^{+0.06}_{-0.12}$ and $\alpha = 0.49^{+0.59}_{-0.47}$, and the median value of DM of host galaxy is $\exp (\mu)=72.49^{+33.31}_{-25.62}~{\rm pc ~ cm ^ {-3}}$. By fixing two parameters that can be constrained independently with other observations, we obtain $\alpha =0.11^{+0.24}_{-0.27}$ in the three-parameter fit, which is consistent with zero within 1σ uncertainty. Monte Carlo simulations show that even 300 FRBs are not enough to tightly constrain five parameters simultaneously. This is mainly caused by the correlation between parameters. Only if two parameters are fixed, 100 FRBs are necessary to achieve unbiased constraints on the remaining parameters.

While awaiting direct velocity measurement of gas motions in the hot intracluster medium, we rely on indirect probes, including gas perturbations in galaxy clusters. Using a sample of $\sim 80$ clusters in different dynamic states from Omega500 cosmological simulations, we examine scaling relations between the fluctuation amplitudes of gas density, $\delta\rho/\rho$, pressure, $\delta P/P$, X-ray surface brightness, Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) y-parameter, and the characteristic Mach number of gas motions, $M_{\rm 1d}$. In relaxed clusters, accounting for halo ellipticities reduces $\delta\rho/\rho$ or $\delta P/P$ by a factor of up to 2 within $r_{500c}$. We confirm a strong linear correlation between $\delta\rho/\rho$ (or $\delta P/P$) and $M_{\rm 1d}$ in relaxed clusters, with the proportionality coefficient $\eta \approx 1$. For unrelaxed clusters, the correlation is less strong and has a larger $\eta\approx 1.3\pm 0.5$ ($1.5\pm0.5$) for $\delta\rho/\rho$ ($\delta P/P$). Examination of the power-law scaling of $M_{\rm 1d}$ with $\delta\rho/\rho$ shows that it is almost linear for relaxed clusters, while for the unrelaxed ones, it is closer to $\delta\rho/\rho\propto M_{\rm 1d}^2$, supporting an increasing role of non-linear terms and compressive modes. In agreement with previous studies, we observe a strong correlation of $M_{\rm 1d}$ with radius. Correcting for these correlations leaves a residual scatter in $M_{\rm 1d}$ of $\sim 4 (7)$ per cent for relaxed (perturbed) clusters. Hydrostatic mass bias correlates with $M_{\rm 1d}$ as strongly as with $\delta\rho/\rho$ in relaxed clusters. The residual scatters after correcting for derived trends is $\sim 6-7$ per cent. These predictions can be verified with existing X-ray and SZ observations of galaxy clusters combined with forthcoming velocity measurements with X-ray microcalorimeters., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, submitted

The search for cosmic polarization rotation or birefringence in the CMB is well-motivated because it can provide powerful constraints on parity-violating new physics, such as axion-like particles. In this paper we point out that since the CMB polarization is produced at two very different redshifts - it is generated at both reionization and recombination - new parity-violating physics can generically rotate the polarization signals from these different sources by different amounts. We explore two implications of this. First, measurements of CMB birefringence are challenging because the effect is degenerate with a miscalibration of CMB polarization angles; however, by taking the difference of the reionization and recombination birefringence angles (measured from different CMB angular scales), we can obtain a cosmological signal that is immune to instrumental angle miscalibration. Second, we note that the combination with other methods for probing birefringence can give tomographic information, constraining the redshift origin of any physics producing birefringence. We forecast that the difference of the reionization and recombination birefringence angles can be competitively determined to within ~0.05 degrees for future CMB satellites such as LiteBIRD. Although much further work is needed, we argue that foreground mitigation for this measurement should be less challenging than for inflationary B-mode searches on similar scales due to larger signals and lower foregrounds., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; comments welcome

Models of stellar population synthesis (SPS) are the fundamental tool that relates the physical properties of a galaxy to its spectral energy distribution (SED). In this paper, we present DSPS: a python package for stellar population synthesis. All of the functionality in DSPS is implemented natively in the JAX library for automatic differentiation, and so our predictions for galaxy photometry are fully differentiable, and directly inherit the performance benefits of JAX, including portability onto GPUs. DSPS also implements several novel features, such as i) a flexible empirical model for stellar metallicity that incorporates correlations with stellar age, and ii) support for the diffstar model that provides a physically-motivated connection between the star formation history of a galaxy (SFH) and the mass assembly of its underlying dark matter halo. We detail a set of theoretical techniques for using autodiff to calculate gradients of predictions for galaxy SEDs with respect to SPS parameters that control a range of physical effects, including SFH, stellar metallicity, nebular emission, and dust attenuation. When forward modeling the colors of a synthetic galaxy population, we find that DSPS can provide a factor of 5 speedup over standard SPS codes on a CPU, and a factor of 300-400 on a modern GPU. When coupled with gradient-based techniques for optimization and inference, DSPS makes it practical to conduct expansive likelihood analyses of simulation-based models of the galaxy--halo connection that fully forward model galaxy spectra and photometry., Comment: 13 pages, 2 appendices. Version accepted for publication in MNRAS