Search

After its successful campaign of measurements beyond the Polar Arctic Circle, the PolarquEEEst experiment measured the cosmic charged particle rate at sea level in a latitude interval between 35$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ N and 82$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ N. In this paper, these measurements are described and the corresponding results are discussed.

We revisit the viability of the CMSSM, searching for regions of parameter space that yield a neutralino dark matter density compatible with Planck measurements, as well as LHC constraints including sparticle searches and the mass of the Higgs boson, recent direct limits on spin-independent and -dependent dark matter scattering from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, the indirect constraints from Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. on dark matter annihilations to photons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the Galactic Centre, and the IceCube limits on muons from annihilations to neutrinos in the Sun. For representative values of $\tan \beta$ and $A_0$ we map in detail the Planck-compatible strips in CMSSM parameter planes, which exhibit multiple distinctive features for large $\tan \beta$, $A_0 = 0$ and $\mu > 0$, and identify portions of the strips that survive all the phenomenological constraints. We find that the most powerful constraint is that from $m_h$, followed by the LZ limit on spin-independent scattering, whereas sparticle searches at the LHC and indirect dark matter searches are less restrictive. Most of the surviving CMSSM parameter space features a Higgsino-like dark matter particle with a mass $\sim 1000-1100$ GeV, which could best be probed with future direct searches for dark matter scattering., Comment: 44 pages, 20 figures, journal version to appear in EPJ-C

Using publication and citation counts, and data obtained from the editorial office ofJournal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, we conclude that this journal is truly international and stands a good chance of becoming one of the core journals of astronomy, provided it is marketed vigorously.

Rotations of an axion field in field space provide a natural origin for an era of kination domination, where the energy density is dominated by the kinetic term of the axion field, preceded by an early era of matter domination. Remarkably, no entropy is produced at the end of matter domination and hence these eras of matter and kination domination may occur even after Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We derive constraints on these eras from both the cosmic microwave background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We investigate how this cosmological scenario affects the spectrum of possible primordial gravitational waves and find that the spectrum features a triangular peak. We discuss how future observations of gravitational waves can probe the viable parameter space, including regions that produce axion dark matter by the kinetic misalignment mechanism or the baryon asymmetry by axiogenesis. For QCD axion dark matter produced by the kinetic misalignment mechanism, a modification to the inflationary gravitational wave spectrum occurs above 0.01 Hz and, for high values of the energy scale of inflation, the prospects for discovery are good. We briefly comment on implications for structure formation of the universe., Comment: 57 pages, 17 figures; v2: references and discussions added

We propose a new mechanism to simultaneously explain the observed dark matter abundance and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. The mechanism is based on the Filtered Dark Matter scenario, where dark matter particles acquire a large mass during a first-order phase transition. This implies that only a small fraction of them are energetic enough to enter the advancing true vacuum bubbles and survive until today, while the rest are reflected and annihilate away quickly. We supplement this scenario with a CP-violating interaction, which creates a chiral asymmetry in the population of dark matter particles. In the false vacuum phase, a portal interaction quickly converts the dark sector chiral asymmetry into a Standard Model lepton asymmetry. The lepton asymmetry is then partially converted to a baryon asymmetry by standard electroweak sphaleron processes. We discuss the dependence of the generated asymmetry on the parameters of the model for two different portal interactions and demonstrate successful baryogenesis for both. For one of the portals, it is also possible to simultaneously explain the observed dark matter abundance, over many orders of magnitude in the dark matter mass., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; v2: mistake in the source term corrected, which leads to larger allowed parameter region in v2; added citations

The dark axion portal is a coupling of an axion-like particle to a dark photon kinetically mixed with the visible photon. We show how this portal, when applied to the relaxion, can lead to cosmological relaxation of the weak scale using dark photon production. The key backreaction mechanism involves the Schwinger effect: As long as electroweak symmetry is unbroken, Schwinger production of massless Standard Model fermions, which carry dark millicharges, suppresses the dark photon production. Once the electroweak symmetry is broken, the fermions acquire mass and the suppression is lifted. An enhanced dark photon dissipation then traps the relaxion at a naturally small weak scale. Our model thus provides a novel link between the phenomenological dark axion portal, dark photons, and the hierarchy problem of the Higgs mass., Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures. Matches published version

We explore the shifted $f(R) (\propto R^{1+\delta})$ model with ${\delta}$ as a distinguishing physical parameter for the study of constraints at local scales. The corresponding dynamics confronted with different geodesics (null and non-null) along with its conformal analogue is investigated. For null geodesics, we discuss the light deflection angle, whereas for non-null geodesics under the weak field limit, we investigate the perihelion advance of the Mercury orbit in $f(R)$ Schwarzschild background, respectively. The extent of an additional force, appearing for non-null geodesics, depends on $\delta$. Such phenomenological investigations allow us to strictly constrain $\delta$ to be approximately $\mathcal{O}(10^{-6})$ with a difference of unity in orders at galactic and planetary scales and seems to provide a unique $f(R)$ at local scales. Further, at late cosmic time, we analyse the constraint on $\delta$ via the bare scalar self-interaction Einstein frame potential to provide a null test of dark energy. We constrain the deviation parameter, $\mid\delta\mid$ to $(\approx 0.6)$ which is in a close agreement with the results obtained through various observations in the Jordan frame by several authors. Our results suggest that the present form of model is suitable for the alternate explanation of dark matter-like effects at local scales, whereas at large scales the deviations grow higher and must be addressed in terms of the accelerated background., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

We present a cosmological solution to the electroweak hierarchy problem. After discussing general features of cosmological approaches to naturalness, we extend the Standard Model with two light scalars very weakly coupled to the Higgs and present the mechanism, which we recently introduced in a companion paper to explain jointly the electroweak hierarchy and the strong-CP problem. In this work we show that this solution can be decoupled from the strong-CP problem and discuss its possible implementations and phenomenology. The mechanism works with any standard inflationary sector, it does not require weak-scale inflation or a large number of e-folds, and does not introduce ambiguities related to eternal inflation. The cutoff of the theory can be as large as the Planck scale, both for the Cosmological Constant and for the Higgs sector. Reproducing the observed dark matter relic density fixes the couplings of the two new scalars to the Standard Model, offering a target to future axion or fifth force searches. Depending on the specific interaction of the scalars with the Standard Model, the mechanism either yields rich phenomenology at colliders or provides a novel joint solution to the strong-CP problem. We highlight what predictions are common to most realizations of cosmological selection of the weak scale and will allow to test this general framework in the near future., 41 pages, 11 figures

If the refractive index of the relic gravitons increases during a conventional stage of inflationary evolution the spectral energy density is blue at intermediate frequencies above the fHz and then flattens out after a knee that is typically smaller than the mHz. We investigate here the conditions leading to a sufficiently large spectral energy density in the nHz range where some peculiar signatures observed with the pulsar timing arrays have been recently attributed to cosmic gravitons. If these potential evidences are combined with the most recent bounds provided by wide-band interferometers in the audio range (i.e. between few Hz and the kHz) the allowed regions of the parameter space are compatible with both determinations and also with all the other constraints associated with the background of relic gravitons produced during inflation. The present analysis suggests that the pulsar timing arrays are sensitive to the evolution of the refractive index during the early stages of the inflationary evolution. This physical interpretation of the preliminary empirical evidence is distinguishable from other perspectives since the high-frequency normalization, the blue spectral index and the tensor to scalar ratio cannot be independently assigned but are all related to the frequency of the knee that is ultimately determined by the competition between the rate of evolution of the refractive index and the slow-roll corrections., 11 pages, 3 figures

The production of the hypermagnetic gyrotropy is investigated under the assumption that the gauge coupling smoothly evolves during a quasi-de Sitter phase and then flattens out in the radiation epoch by always remaining perturbative. In the plane defined by the strength of the anomalous interactions and by the rate of evolution of the gauge coupling the actual weight of the pseudoscalar interactions turns out to be always rather modest if major deviations from the homogeneity are to be avoided during the inflationary phase. Even if the gauge power spectra are related by duality only in the absence of anomalous contributions, an approximate duality symmetry constrains the late-time form of the hypermagnetic power spectra. Since the hypermagnetic gyrotropy associated with the modes reentering prior to the phase transition must be released into fermions later on, the portions of the parameter space where the obtained baryon asymmetry is close to the observed value are the most relevant for the present ends. For the same range of parameters the magnetic power spectra associated with the modes reentering after symmetry breaking may even be of the order of a few hundredths of a nG over typical length scales comparable with the Mpc prior to the collapse of the protogalaxy., Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures

Gravitational waves (GWs) from strong first-order phase transitions (SFOPTs) in the early Universe are a prime target for upcoming GW experiments. In this paper, I construct novel peak-integrated sensitivity curves (PISCs) for these experiments, which faithfully represent their projected sensitivities to the GW signal from a cosmological SFOPT by explicitly taking into account the expected shape of the signal. Designed to be a handy tool for phenomenologists and model builders, PISCs allow for a quick and systematic comparison of theoretical predictions with experimental sensitivities, as I illustrate by a large range of examples. PISCs also offer several advantages over the conventional power-law-integrated sensitivity curves (PLISCs); in particular, they directly encode information on the expected signal-to-noise ratio for the GW signal from a SFOPT. I provide semianalytical fit functions for the exact numerical PISCs of LISA, DECIGO, and BBO. In an appendix, I moreover present a detailed review of the strain noise power spectra of a large number of GW experiments. The numerical results for all PISCs, PLISCs, and strain noise power spectra presented in this paper can be downloaded from the Zenodo online repository [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3689582]. In a companion paper [1909.11356], the concept of PISCs is used to perform an in-depth study of the GW signal from the cosmological phase transition in the real-scalar-singlet extension of the standard model. The PISCs presented in this paper will need to be updated whenever new theoretical results on the expected shape of the signal become available. The PISC approach is therefore suited to be used as a bookkeeping tool to keep track of the theoretical progress in the field., 30+14+12 pages main text / appendix / references, 12 figures, 4 tables. Companion paper: 1909.11356. Numerical results available on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3689582. v3: new title, new section (3.6) on how to update PISC plots, matches version published in JHEP

We describe BlackHawk, a public C program for calculating the Hawking evaporation spectra of any black hole distribution. This program enables the users to compute the primary and secondary spectra of stable or long-lived particles generated by Hawking radiation of the distribution of black holes, and to study their evolution in time. The physics of Hawking radiation is presented, and the capabilities, features and usage of BlackHawk are described here under the form of a manual. The BlackHawk code can be downloaded from https://blackhawk.hepforge.org . We describe BlackHawk, a public C program for calculating the Hawking evaporation spectra of any black hole distribution. This program allows the users to compute the primary and secondary spectra of stable or long-lived particles generated by Hawking radiation of the distribution of black holes, and to study their evolution in time. The physics of Hawking radiation is presented, and the capabilities, features and usage of BlackHawk are described here under the form of a manual. This is the BlackHawk v2.0 manual, which is available on the BlackHawk webpage http://blackhawk.hepforge.org/. A brief release note summarizing the new aspects of BlackHawk v2.0 as well as illustrating examples can be found in https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.02737.

Very compact objects probe extreme gravitational fields and may be the key to understand outstanding puzzles in fundamental physics. These include the nature of dark matter, the fate of spacetime singularities, or the loss of unitarity in Hawking evaporation. The standard astrophysical description of collapsing objects tells us that massive, dark and compact objects are black holes. Any observation suggesting otherwise would be an indication of beyond-the-standard-model physics. Null results strengthen and quantify the Kerr black hole paradigm. The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy and precise measurements with very long baseline interferometry allow one to finally probe into such foundational issues. We overview the physics of exotic dark compact objects and their observational status, including the observational evidence for black holes with current and future experiments., Comment: 76 pages + references. Invited review article for Living Reviews in Relativity. v3: Overall improvements and references added, a few typos corrected. Version to appear in LRR

We revisit the uncertainties in the calculation of spin-independent scattering matrix elements for the scattering of WIMP dark matter particles on nuclear matter. In addition to discussing the uncertainties due to limitations in our knowledge of the nucleonic matrix elements of the light quark scalar densities < N |{\bar u} u, {\bar d} d, {\bar s} s| N>, we also discuss the importances of heavy quark scalar densities < N |{\bar c} c, {\bar b} b, {\bar t} t| N >, and comment on uncertainties in quark mass ratios. We analyze estimates of the light-quark densities made over the past decade using lattice calculations and/or phenomenological inputs. We find an uncertainty in the combination < N |{\bar u} u + {\bar d} d | N > that is larger than has been assumed in some phenomenological analyses, and a range of < N |{\bar s} s| N > that is smaller but compatible with earlier estimates. We also analyze the importance of the {\cal O}(��_s^3) calculations of the heavy-quark matrix elements that are now available, which provide an important refinement of the calculation of the spin-independent scattering cross section. We use for illustration a benchmark CMSSM point in the focus-point region that is compatible with the limits from LHC and other searches., 25 pages, 17 figures

The winds from growing supermassive black holes appear to be located tens of parsecs from the centres of their host galaxies. This location fits with the idea that these outflows influence the progression of star formation.

We present the most comprehensive global fits to date of three supersymmetric models motivated by grand unification: the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM), and its Non-Universal Higgs Mass generalisations NUHM1 and NUHM2. We include likelihoods from a number of direct and indirect dark matter searches, a large collection of electroweak precision and flavour observables, direct searches for supersymmetry at LEP and Runs I and II of the LHC, and constraints from Higgs observables. Our analysis improves on existing results not only in terms of the number of included observables, but also in the level of detail with which we treat them, our sampling techniques for scanning the parameter space, and our treatment of nuisance parameters. We show that stau co-annihilation is now ruled out in the CMSSM at more than 95\% confidence. Stop co-annihilation turns out to be one of the most promising mechanisms for achieving an appropriate relic density of dark matter in all three models, whilst avoiding all other constraints. We find high-likelihood regions of parameter space featuring light stops and charginos, making them potentially detectable in the near future at the LHC. We also show that tonne-scale direct detection will play a largely complementary role, probing large parts of the remaining viable parameter space, including essentially all models with multi-TeV neutralinos., Comment: 50 pages, 21 figures, 7 tables, v2 accepted for publication in EPJC, v3 update Zenodo link

We provide expressions for the nonperturbative matching of the effective field theory describing dark matter interactions with quarks and gluons to the effective theory of nonrelativistic dark matter interacting with nonrelativistic nucleons. We give the leading and subleading order expressions in chiral counting. In general, a single partonic operator already matches onto several nonrelativistic operators at leading order in chiral counting. Thus, keeping only one operator at the time in the nonrelativistic effective theory does not properly describe the scattering in direct detection. Moreover, the matching of the axial--axial partonic level operator, as well as the matching of the operators coupling DM to the QCD anomaly term, naively include momentum suppressed terms. However, these are still of leading chiral order due to pion poles and can be numerically important. We illustrate the impact of these effects with several examples., 47 pages, 8 figures. Improved discussion, corrected typographical errors, updated references

According to our present knowledge the matter/energy budget of the universe consists of 74% dark energy, 22% dark matter and 4% ordinary (or so-called baryonic) matter. While the dark energy cannot be detected directly, searches for dark matter are performed with earth-bound and space-borne detection devices, assuming that the dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles, the so-called WIMPs. An overview of the present experimental situation is given.

International audience; Every three years the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements revises tables giving the directions of the north poles of rotation and the prime meridians of the planets, satellites, and asteroids. This report introduces a system of cartographic coordinates for asteroids and comets. A topographic reference surface for Mars is recommended. Tables for the rotational elements of the planets and satellites and size and shape of the planets and satellites are not included, since there were no changes to the values. They are available in the previous report (Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron., 82, 83 110, 2002), a version of which is also available on a web site.

I consider the possibility that space experiments be used to search for quantum properties of spacetime. On the basis of recent quantum-gravity results, I argue that insight on some quantum properties of spacetime can be obtained with experiments planned for the International Space Station, such as AMS and EUSO, and with satellite gamma-ray telescopes, such as GLAST., Comment: 20 pages, LaTex. To appear in a special issue "Fundamental physics on the International Space Station and in space" of General Relativity and Gravitation

A new set of supersymmetric benchmark scenarios has recently been proposed in the context of the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking masses, taking into account the constraints from LEP, $b \to s \gamma$ and $g_\mu - 2$. These points have previously been used to discuss the physics reaches of different accelerators. In this paper, we discuss the prospects for discovering supersymmetric dark matter in these scenarios. We consider direct detection through spin-independent and spin-dependent nuclear scattering, as well as indirect detection through relic annihilations to neutrinos, photons, and positrons. We find that several of the benchmark scenarios offer good prospects for direct detection via spin-independent nuclear scattering and indirect detection via muons produced by neutrinos from relic annihilations inside the Sun, and some models offer good prospects for detecting photons from relic annihilations in the galactic centre., Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures

We have studied the bulk viscosity of strange quark matter in the density dependent quark mass model (DDQM) and compared results with calculations done earlier in the MIT bag model where u, d masses were neglected and first order interactions were taken into account. We find that at low temperatures and high relative perturbations, the bulk viscosity is higher by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude while at low perturbations the enhancement is by 1–2 order of magnitude as compared to earlier results. Also the damping time is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower implying that the star reaches stability much earlier than in MIT bag model calculations.

The propagation of linear gravitational waves is studied in open and multiply connected Robertson-Walker cosmologies. In order for the group velocity of the gravitational wave packets to coincide with the speed of light, the linear wave equation must be conformally coupled. This opens the possibility of using the electromagnetic formalism. The gravitational analogue to the electromagnetic field tensor is introduced, and a tensorial counterpart to Maxwell's equations on the spacelike 3-slices is derived. The energy-momentum tensor for linear gravitational waves is constructed without averaging procedures, a strictly positive energy density is obtained, and it is shown that the overall energy of a gravitational pulse scales with the inverse of the expansion factor.

In its first three years of operation, the COMPTEL instrument on theCompton Gamma-Ray Observatory has measured the locations (mean accuracy ∼1°) and spectra (0.75-30 MeV) of 18 gamma-ray bursts and continues to observe new events at a rate of ∼1/month. With good angular resolution and sensitivity at MeV energies, the growing COMPTEL burst catalog is an important new piece of evidence in the on-going GRB mystery. The COMPTEL burst locations are consistent with an isotropic distribution of sources, yet the spatial coincidence of two of the bursts indicates the possibility of repetition. The COMPTEL burst spectra are in most cases consistent with a single power law model with spectral index in the range 2–3. However, two bursts show evidence of a spectral break in the MeV range. Measurement of rapid variability at MeV energies in the stronger bursts provides evidence that either the sources are nearby (within the Galaxy) or the gamma-ray emission is relativistically beamed. We present an overview of analysis results obtained from the COMPTEL burst catalog concentrating on the search for burst repetition and the implications of highly variable MeV emission.

The BATSE/COMPTEL/NMSU Rapid Response Network (RRN) was formed to provide rapid follow-up ofγ-ray bursts imaged by the COMPTEL instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. The RRN consists of ≈ 22 professional observatories located around the world spanning both northern and southern hemispheres. Also included in the RRN is the Airforce GEODSS network. The goal of the RRN is to perform optical and radio observations of COMPTEL error boxes as soon after the burst as possible. We present results from the first two years of operation of this network.

COMPTEL on board CGRO has observed a very strong (S[> 0.3 MeV] = 2.03 × 10−4 erg cm−2), complex, and long lasting (162 s) gamma-ray burst on February 17, 1994 (GRB 940217). Temporal fluctuations occur on timescales as short as 100 ms. Hard-to-soft spectral evolution has been observed during the burst emission and also within individual peaks. The photon spectra obtained within the 6 peaks can be modelled by single power law spectra and by broken power laws with break energies at around 1 MeV. The best-fit power law slopes vary between 1.1 and 3.5 throughout the event. The burst is located at [α 2000,δ 2000] = [29.5°, 3.8°] with a 3σ error radius of 0.9°. COMPTEL does not detect any significant “post-burst” emission (as reported by EGRET) at low energies (< 30 MeV), and our upper limits are marginally consistent with the EGRET detections. Using high energy spectral and temporal information, distance limits to GRB 940217 have been derived.

The background produced by isolated neutrons in Cherenkov detectors studying the atmospheric neutrinos is discussed. The neutrons are generated in nuclear showers initiated by muons in the rock surrounding the detectors. It is shown that, taking into account the detection of π0 events from reactions of nA→π0X, which look likeve detection, results in an observedI(vμ)/I(ve) ratio close to the expected one for the energy range 0.2–5 GeV.

We present an on-going project consisting of analysis of a sample of twenty-five metal-poor stars, most of them carbon-enriched and thus tagged carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, observed with the high-resolution HERMES spectrograph mounted on the Mercator telescope (La Palma), the UVES spectrograph on VLT (ESO Chile), or the HIRES spectrograph on KECK (Hawaii). This sample consists of CEMP-s stars, which are CEMP stars enriched in slow-neutron-capture (s-process) elements, as well as CEMP-rs stars enriched with both s-process and rapid-neutron-capture (r-process) elements. We also included an r-process-enriched star for comparison purposes. The origin of the abundance differences between CEMP-s and CEMP-rs stars is presently unknown. It has been claimed that the i-process (intermediate nucleosynthesis process), whose site still remains to be identified, could better reproduce CEMP-rs abundances than the s-process. We aim at understanding whether the i-process and its putative site can reproduce the abundance pattern measured in CEMP-rs stars., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

We have performed a detailed analysis on the Teutsch 76 (T76) open cluster using the deep near-infrared (NIR) observations taken with the TANSPEC instrument mounted on the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) along with the recently available high quality proper motion data from the {\it Gaia} data release 3 and deep photometric data from Pan-STARRS1 survey. We have found that the T76 cluster is having a central density concentration with circular morphology, probably due to the star formation processes. The radius of the T76 cluster is found to be 45$^{\prime}{^\prime}$ (1.24 pc) and 28 stars within this radius were marked as highly probable cluster members. We have found that the cluster is located at a distance of $5.7\pm1.0$ kpc and is having an age of $50\pm10$ Myr. The mass function slope ($Γ$) in the cluster region in the mass range $\sim$0.75$, Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

We present a study of the molecular cloud in Sh2-112 massive star forming region using the 3-2 transition of CO isotopologues - CO, 13CO, and C18O; supplemented in part by CGPS HI line emission and MSX data. Sh2-112 is an optically visible region powered by an O8V type massive star BD +45 3216, and hosts two Red MSX Survey sources - G083.7962+03.3058 and G083.7071+03.2817 - classified as HII region and young stellar object, respectively. Reduced spectral data products from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope archive, centered on the two RMS objects with ~7'x7' field of view each, were utilised for the purpose. The 13CO(3-2) channel map of the region shows the molecular cloud to have filamentary extensions directed away from the massive star, which also seems to be at the edge of a cavity like structure. Multiple molecular cloud protrusions into this cavity structure host local peaks of emission. The integrated emission map of the region constructed from only those emission clumps detected above 5$\sigma$ level in the position-position-velocity space affirms the same. MSX sources were found distributed along the cavity boundary where the gas has the been compressed. Spectral extraction at these positions yielded high Mach numbers and low ratios of thermal to non-thermal pressure, suggesting a dominance of supersonic and non-thermal motion in the cloud., Comment: 15 Pages, 11 Figures, Accepted in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (JAA)

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), as they can inject a large amounts of mass and magnetic flux into the interplanetary space, are the primary source of space weather phenomena on the Earth. The present review first briefly introduces the solar surface signatures of the origins of CMEs and then focuses on the attempts to understand the kinematic evolution of CMEs from the Sun to the Earth. CMEs have been observed in the solar corona in white-light from a series of space missions over the last five decades. In particular, LASCO/SOHO has provided almost continuous coverage of CMEs for more than two solar cycles until today. However, the observations from LASCO suffered from projection effects and limited field of view (within 30 Rs from the Sun). The launch in 2006 of the twin STEREO spacecraft made possible multiple viewpoints imaging observations, which enabled us to assess the projection effects on CMEs. Moreover, heliospheric imagers (HIs) onboard STEREO continuously observed the large and unexplored distance gap between the Sun and Earth. Finally, the Earth-directed CMEs that before have been routinely identified only near the Earth at 1 AU in in situ observations from ACE and WIND, could also be identified at longitudes away from the Sun-Earth line using the in situ instruments onboard STEREO. Our review presents the frequently used methods for estimation of the kinematics of CMEs and their arrival time at 1 AU using primarily SOHO and STEREO observations. We emphasize the need of deriving the three-dimensional (3D) properties of Earth-directed CMEs from the locations away from the Sun-Earth line. The results improving the CME arrival time prediction at Earth and the open issues holding back progress are also discussed. Finally, we summarize the importance of heliospheric imaging and discuss the path forward to achieve improved space weather forecasting., 41 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

In this review article, we briefly outline our current understanding of the physics associated with the HI 21-cm signal from cosmic dawn. We discuss different phases of cosmic dawn as the ambient gas and the background radiations evolve with the redshift. We address the consequences of several possible heating sources and radiation background on the global 21-cm signal. We further review our present perspective of other important aspects of the HI 21-cm signal such as the power spectrum and imaging. Finally, we highlight the future key measurements of the Square Kilometre Array and other ongoing/upcoming experiments that will enlighten our understanding of the early Universe., 22 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy(JoAA)

We propose the intensity mapping of the redshifted HI 21-cm signal from the post-reionization epoch as a cosmological probe of $f(R)$ gravity. We consider the Hu-Sawicki class of $f(R)$ gravity models characterized by a single parameter $f_{,R0}$. The $f(R)$ modification to gravity affects the post-reionization $21$-cm power spectrum through the change in the growth rate of density fluctuations. We find that a radio interferometric observation with a SKA1-Mid like radio telescope in both auto-correlation and cross-correlation with galaxy weak-lensing and Ly-$\alpha$ forest may distinguish $f(R)$ models from $LCDM$ cosmology at a precision which is competitive with other probes of $f(R)$ gravity., Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy SKA special issue

One of the major science goals of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is to understand the role played by atomic hydrogen (HI) gas in the evolution of galaxies throughout cosmic time. The hyperfine transition line of the hydrogen atom at 21-cm is one of the best tools to detect and study the properties of HI gas associated with galaxies. In this article, we review our current understanding of HI gas and its relationship with galaxies through observations of the 21-cm line both in emission and absorption. In addition, we provide an overview of the HI science that will be possible with SKA and its pre-cursors and pathfinders, i.e. HI 21-cm emission and absorption studies of galaxies from nearby to high redshifts that will trace various processes governing galaxy evolution., Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, accepted on 27 May 2022 for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (to appear in the special issue on "Indian participation in the SKA"), figure 4 has been updated

The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat, an open detector above $\sim$100 keV, is a promising tool for the investigation of hard X-ray characteristics of $\gamma$-ray pulsars. A custom algorithm has been developed to detect pulsars from long integration ($\sim$years) of archival data, as reported by us earlier. Here we extend this method to include in the analysis an additional $\sim$20% of the CZTI pixels that were earlier ignored due to their lower gain values. Recent efforts have provided better and more secure calibration of these pixels, demonstrating their higher thresholds and extended energy range up to $\sim$1 MeV. Here we use the additional information provided by these pixels, enabling the construction of pulse profiles over a larger energy range. We compare the profiles of the Crab pulsar at different sub-bands and show that the behaviour is consistent with the extended energy coverage. As detailed spectroscopy over this full band remains difficult due to the limited count rate, we construct hardness ratios which, together with AstroSat Mass Model simulations, are able to constrain the power-law index of the radiation spectrum. We present our results for the phase-resolved spectrum of PSR J0534+2200 and for the total pulsed emission of PSR J1513-5908. The recovered photon indices are found to be accurate to within $\sim 20$%., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 11 pages, 5 figures, 7 tables

We report the results of an observation of low mass X-ray binary GX 3+1 with {\it AstroSat}'s Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) and Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) instruments on-board for the first time. We have detected one Type-1 thermonuclear burst ($\sim$ 15 s) present in the LAXPC 20 light curve, with a double peak feature at higher energies and our study of the hardness-intensity diagram reveals that the source was in a soft banana state. The pre-burst emission could be described well by a thermally Comptonised model component. The burst spectra is modelled adopting a time-resolved spectroscopic method using a single color blackbody model added to the pre-burst model, to monitor the parametric changes as the burst decays. Based on our time-resolved spectroscopy, we claim that the detected burst is a photospheric radius expansion (PRE) burst. During the PRE phase, the blackbody flux is found to be approximately constant at an averaged value $\sim$ 2.56 in $10^{-8}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ units. On the basis of literature survey, we infer that \textit{AstroSat}/LAXPC 20 has detected a burst from GX 3+1 after more than a decade which is also a PRE one. Utilising the burst parameters obtained, we provide a new estimation to the source distance, which is $\sim$ 9.3 $\pm$ 0.4 kpc, calculated for an isotropic burst emission. Finally, we discuss and compare our findings with the published literature reports., 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

There are two types of timing irregularities seen in pulsars: glitches and timing noise. Both of these phenomena can help us probe the interior of such exotic objects. This article presents a brief overview of the observational and theoretical aspects of pulsar timing irregularities and the main results from the investigations of these phenomena in India. The relevance of such Indian programs for monitoring of young pulsars with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is presented, highlighting possible contributions of the Indian neutron star community to the upcoming SKA endeavour., Comment: 7 figure. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy : SKA special issue

During the last decade, very high energy astrophysics emerged as a new branch of astronomy with major discoveries achieved by the present ground-based gamma-ray Cherenkov telescopes. The sample of cosmic sources firmly detected at very high energy (VHE) now exceeds two hundred objects, including active galactic nuclei (AGN), pulsar wind nebulae, and several other types of sources of which a significant number are unidentified ones. The scientific return from recent VHE data is particularly interesting for AGN science, shedding new light on particle acceleration and emission processes around supermassive black holes, and probing the intergalactic space by the analysis of VHE photons propagating from bright remote sources to the Earth. The perspectives of this research field are promising with new generation VHE instruments such as CTA, a project of open observatory at extreme energies at the horizon 2023, allowing a deep analysis of the sky in the highest part of the electromagnetic spectrum, from 20 GeV to 300 TeV.

Interacting supernovae (SNe) IIn and Ibn show narrow emission lines and have always been a mysterious and unsolved genre in SNe physics. We present a comprehensive analysis of the temporal and spectroscopic behaviour of a group of interacting SNe~IIn and Ibn. We choose SNe~2012ab, 2020cui, 2020rc and 2019uo as representative members of these SN sub-types to probe the nature of explosion. Our study reveals that SNe~IIn are heterogeneous, bright depicting multi-staged temporal evolution while SNe~Ibn are moreover homogeneous, comparatively fainter than SNe~IIn and short lived, but limited in sample to firmly constrain the homogeneity. The spectroscopic features display a great diversity in H$\alpha$ and He profiles for both SNe~IIn and Ibn. The representative SN~Ibn also show flash ionisation signatures of CIII and NIII. Modelling of H$\alpha$ reveals that SNe~IIn have in general an asymmetric CSM which interacts with SN ejecta resulting in diversity in H$\alpha$ profiles., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 2022, Astrophysical jets and observational facilities: National perspective, 05 -09 April 2021, ARIES Nainital

We present the results obtained from our campaign to characterize the intra-night-optical variability properties of blazars detected by the {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope. This involves R-band monitoring observations of a sample of 18 blazars, that includes five flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and thirteen BL Lac objects (BL Lacs) covering the redshift range z = 0.085$-$1.184. Our observations, carried out using the 1.3 m J.C. Bhattacharya Telescope cover a total of 40 nights ($\sim$200 hrs) between the period 2016 December and 2020 March. We characterized variability using the power enhanced $F-$test. We found a duty cycle (DC) of the variability of about 11\% for FSRQs and 12\% for BL Lacs. Dividing the sample into different sub-classes based on the position of the synchrotron peak in their broadband spectral energy distribution (SED), we found DC of $\sim$16\%, $\sim$10\% and $\sim$7\% for low-synchrotron peaked (LSP), intermediate synchrotron peaked (ISP) and high synchrotron peaked (HSP) blazars. Such high DC of variability in LSP blazars could be understood in the context of the R-band tracing the falling part (contributed by high energy electrons) of the synchrotron component of the broadband SED. Also, the R-band tracing the rising synchrotron part (produced by low energy electrons) in the case of ISP and HSP blazars, could cause lesser variability in them. Thus, the observed high DC of variability in LSP blazars relative to ISP and HSP blazars is in accordance with the leptonic model of emission from blazar jets., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in The Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

A laboratory plasma-wall interaction-based astrophysical gravito-electrostatic sheath (GES) model is methodologically applied to study the dynamic stability of the magnetoactive bi-fluidic solar plasma system in the presence of turbulence effect. The spherically symmetric GES-model formalism couples the solar interior plasma (SIP, internally self-gravitating, bounded) and the solar wind plasma (SWP, externally point-gravitating, unbounded) through the diffused solar surface boundary (SSB). A normal spherical mode ansatz results in a generalized linear quadratic dispersion relation depicting the modal fluctuations on both the SIP and SWP scales. A constructive numerical platform reveals the evolution of both dispersive and non-dispersive modal features of the modified-GES mode excitations. The reliability of the derived non-planar dispersion laws is concretized with the help of an exact analytic shape matching the previously reported results founded on the plane-wave approximation. It is found that the thermo-statistical GES stability depends mainly on the magnetic field, equilibrium plasma density, and plasma temperature. It is speculated that the dispersive features are more pronounced in the self-gravitational domains against the electrostatic ones. The magneto-thermal interplay introduces decelerating (accelerating) and destabilizing (stabilizing) influences on the SIP (SWP), and so forth. At last, we briefly indicate the applicability of the proposed analysis to understand diverse helioseismic activities from the collective plasma dynamical viewpoint in accordance with the recent astronomical observational scenarios reported in the literature., 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, published in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy 43(2)

Gamma-ray bursts are traditionally classified as short and long bursts based on their $T_{\rm 90}$ value (the time interval during which an instrument observes $5\%$ to $95\%$ of gamma-ray/hard X-ray fluence). However, $T_{\rm 90}$ is dependent on the detector sensitivity and the energy range in which the instrument operates. As a result, different instruments provide different values of $T_{\rm 90}$ for a burst. GRB 210217A is detected with different duration by {\it Swift} and {\it Fermi}. It is classified as a long/soft GRB by {\it Swift}-BAT with a $T_{\rm 90}$ value of 3.76 sec. On the other hand, the sub-threshold detection by {\it Fermi}-GBM classified GRB 210217A as a short/hard burst with a duration of 1.024 sec. We present the multi-wavelength analysis of GRB 210217A (lying in the overlapping regime of long and short GRBs) to identify its actual class using multi-wavelength data. We utilized the $T_{\rm 90}$-hardness ratio, $T_{\rm 90}$-\Ep, and $T_{\rm 90}$-$t_{\rm mvts}$ distributions of the GRBs to find the probability of GRB 210217A being a short GRB. Further, we estimated the photometric redshift of the burst by fitting the joint XRT/UVOT SED and place the burst in the Amati plane. We found that GRB 210217A is an ambiguous burst showing properties of both short and long class of GRBs., Comment: Accepted for Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 2022, Astrophysical jets and observational facilities: National perspective, 05 -09 April 2021, ARIES Nainital

The $UBVRI$ CCD photometric data of open star cluster NGC 1513 are obtained with the 3.6-m Indo-Belgian Devasthal optical telescope (DOT). Analyses of the GAIA EDR3 astrometric data have identified 106 possible cluster members. The mean proper motion of the cluster is estimated as $\mu_{\alpha}Cos{\delta}=1.29\pm0.02$ and $\mu_{\delta}=-3.74\pm0.02$ mas yr$^{-1}$. Estimated values of reddening $E(B-V)$ and distance to the NGC 1513 are 0.65$\pm$0.03 mag and 1.33$\pm$0.1 kpc respectively. An age of $225\pm25$ Myr is assigned to the cluster by comparing theoretical isochrones with deep observed cluster sequence. Using observations taken with the 3.6-m DOT, values of distance and age of the galactic globular cluster NGC 4147 are estimated as $18.2\pm0.2$ Kpc and $14\pm2$ Gyr respectively. The optical observations of planetary transit around white dwarf WD1145+017 and $K$-band imaging of star-forming region Sharpless Sh 2-61 demonstrate observing capability of 3.6-m DOT. Optical and near-infrared observations of celestial objects and events are being carried out routinely with the 3.6-m DOT. They indicate that the performance of the telescope is at par with those of other similar telescopes located elsewhere in the world. We therefore state that this observing facility augurs well for multi-wavelength astronomy including study of astrophysical jets., Comment: Accepted for Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 2022, Astrophysical jets and observational facilities: National perspective, 05-09 April 2021, ARIES Nainital

We study the main cosmological properties of the Generalized Chaplygin Gas (GCG) dark energy model at the background and perturbation levels. By using the latest cosmological data in both the background and perturbation levels, we implement a joint likelihood analysis to constrain the cosmological parameters of the model. Using the available expansion and growth rate data, we place constraints on the free parameters of the GCG model based on the statistical Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Then, the best-fit values of cosmological parameters and those of confidence regions are found. We obtain the best-fit value of the current expansion rate of the universe in the GCG model and show that it is in good agreement with the $\Lambda$CDM model. Moreover, the growth rate of matter perturbations is investigated in the context of a unified GCG model. It is shown that in this model, the dark energy component, like the $\Lambda$ sector in the $\Lambda$CDM model, can suppress the amplitude of matter perturbations. We show that the growth rate of perturbations in GCG parametrization is consistent with cluster-scale observations similar to the case of the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model. Our results show that the tension on $\sigma_{8}$ appeared in concordance model can be alleviated in GCG cosmology., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures and 3 Tables. Accepted in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

The 1982 model for the formation of the Hulse-Taylor binary radio pulsar PSR B1913+16 is described, which since has become the standard model for the formation of double neutron stars, confirmed by the 2003 discovery of the double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039AB. A brief overview is given of the present status of our knowledge of the double neutron stars, of which 15 systems are presently known. The binary-recycling model for the formation of millisecond pulsars is described, as put forward independently by Alpar et al. (1982), Radhakrishnan and Srinivasan (1982) and Fabian et al. (1983). This now is the standard model for the formation of these objects, confirmed by the discovery in 1998 of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars. It is noticed that the formation process of close double black holes has analogies to that of close double neutron stars, extended to binaries of larger iinitial component masses, although there are also considerable differences in the physics of the binary evolution at these larger masses., Has appeared in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy special issue on 'Physics of Neutron Stars and Related Objects', celebrating the 75th birth year of G. Srinivasan

In this work, we study the synthetic explosions of a massive star. We take a 100 M$_{\odot}$ zero--age main--sequence (ZAMS) star and evolve it until the onset of core-collapse using {\tt MESA}. Then, the resulting star model is exploded using the publicly available stellar explosion code, {\tt STELLA}. The outputs of {\tt STELLA} calculations provide us the bolometric light curve and photospheric velocity evolution along with other physical properties of the underlying supernova. In this paper, the effects of having large Hydrogen-envelope on the supernova light curve have been explored. We also explore the effects of the presence of different amounts of nickel mass and the effect of changing the explosion energy of the resulting supernovae from such heavy progenitors, on their bolometric light curves and photospheric velocities., Comment: Published as a Special Issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, 2022, Astrophysical jets and observational facilities: National perspective, 05 -09 April 2021, ARIES Nainital

Transit and radial velocity models were applied to archival data in order to examine exoplanet properties, in particular for the recently discovered super-Earth GJ 357b. There is however considerable variation in estimated model parameters across the literature, and especially their uncertainty estimates. This applies even for relatively uncomplicated systems and basic parameters. Some published accuracy values thus appear highly over-optimistic. We present our reanalyses with these variations in mind and specify parameters with appropriate confidence intervals for the exoplanets Kepler-1b, -2b, -8b, -12b, -13b, -14b, -15b, -40b \& -77b and 51 Peg. More sophisticated models in WinFitter, EXOFAST, and DACE were applied, leading to mean planet densities for Kepler-12b, -14b, -15b, and -40b as: $0.11 \pm 0.01$, $4.04 \pm 0.58$, $0.43 \pm 0.05$, and $1.19^{+0.31}_{-0.36}$ g per cc respectively. We confirm a rocky mean density for the Earth-like GJ357b, although we urge caution about the modelling given the low S/N data. We cannot confidently specify parameters for the other two proposed planets in this system., Accepted by Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy