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In this paper we use $\alpha'^2$-corrections to the $D_{3}$-brane action to obtain a non-zero and positive cosmological constant in the induced cosmology living on the dark bubble. Its measured value, together with the value of the fine structure constant, correspond to a dark dimension of size $5 \times 10^{-5}$ m and a string scale at $11$ TeV. We conclude that the dark bubble model predicts deviations of Newtonian gravity and stringy excitations of known particles within reach of future experiments., Comment: 6 pages, 1 table

Swift J1357.2-0933 is a black hole transient of particular interest due to the optical, recurrent dips found during its first two outbursts (in 2011 and 2017), with no obvious X-ray equivalent. We present fast optical photometry during its two most recent outbursts, in 2019 and 2021. Our observations reveal that the optical dips were present in every observed outburst of the source, although they were shallower and showed longer recurrence periods in the two most recent and fainter events. We perform a global study of the dips properties in the four outbursts, and find that they do not follow a common temporal evolution. In addition, we discover a correlation with the X-ray and optical fluxes, with dips being more profound and showing shorter recurrence periods for brighter stages. This trend seems to extend even to the faintest, quiescent states of the source. Finally, we discuss these results in the context of the possible connection between optical dips and outflows found in previous works., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Dark bubble cosmology is an alternative paradigm to compactification, which can circumvent issues of moduli stabilization and scale separation. In this paper we investigate how electromagnetic fields can be incorporated in this framework. Worldvolume fields backreact on the ambient universe in which the bubble expands, which in turn affects the energy-momentum distribution and the effective gravity induced on the brane. We compute these effects, showing that the resulting four-dimensional cosmology consistently includes electromagnetic waves., Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure

Accreting white dwarfs are known to show signatures of wind-type outflows in the ultraviolet. At optical wavelengths, however, wind detections have only been reported for a few sources. We present GTC-10.4m optical spectroscopy of four accreting white dwarfs (BZ Cam, V751 Cyg, MV Lyr, and V425 Cas) observed during luminous epochs, when their optical emission is expected to be dominated by the accretion disc. We focused the analysis on four emission lines: H$\alpha$ and He I $\lambda$5876, $\lambda$6678, $\lambda$7065. Line profiles are complex and variable on short (minutes) and long (days to weeks) time scales, with transient absorption and emission components. Among them, we detect strong blue-shifted absorptions at $\gtrsim 1000$ km s$^{-1}$. These high-velocity components, present only in the blue wing of the emission lines, are observed in all four sources and could be associated with accretion disc winds. For MV Lyr and V425 Cas, these would represent the first detection of optical outflows in these objects, while in the case of BZ Cam and V751 Cyg, the presence of outflows has been previously reported. This study suggests that, in addition to ultraviolet winds, optical outflows might be also common in accreting white dwarfs. We discuss the observational properties of these winds and their possible similarity to those detected in accreting black holes and neutrons stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

We report on the first simultaneous high-time resolution X-ray and infrared (IR) observations of a neutron star low mass X-ray binary in its hard state. We performed $\approx 2\,$h of simultaneous observations of 4U 1728-34 using HAWK-I@VLT, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. The source displayed significant X-ray and IR variability down to sub-second timescales. By measuring the cross-correlation function between the infrared and X-ray lightcurves, we discovered a significant correlation with an infrared lead of $\approx 30-40\,$ms with respect to the X-rays. We analysed the X-ray energy dependence of the lag, finding a marginal increase towards higher energies. Given the sign of the lag, we interpret this as possible evidence of Comptonization from external seed photons. We discuss the origin of the IR seed photons in terms of cyclo-synchrotron radiation from an extended hot flow. Finally, we also observed the IR counterpart of a type-I X-ray burst, with a delay of $\approx7.2\,$s. Although some additional effects may be at play, by assuming that this lag is due to light travel time between the central object and the companion star, we find that 4U 1728-34 must have an orbital period longer than $3\,$h and an inclination higher than 8$^\circ$., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages 7 figures

The systematic discovery of outflows in the optical spectra of low-mass X-ray binaries opened a new avenue for the study of the outburst evolution in these extreme systems. However, the efficient detection of such features in a continuously growing database requires the development of new analysis techniques with a particular focus on scalability, adaptability, and automatization. In this pilot study, we explore the use of machine learning algorithms to perform the identification of outflows in spectral line profiles observed in the optical range. We train and test the classifier on a simulated database, constructed through a combination of disc emission line profiles and outflow signatures, emulating typical observations of low-mass X-ray binaries. The final, trained classifier is applied to two sets of spectra taken during two bright outbursts that were particularly well covered, those of V404 Cyg (2015) and MAXI J1820+070 (2018). The resulting classification gained by this novel approach is overall consistent with that obtained through traditional techniques, while it simultaneously provides a number of key advantages over the latter, including the access to low velocity outflows. This study sets the foundations for future studies on large samples of spectra from low-mass X-ray binaries and other compact binaries., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 13 pages, 6 figures

We present simultaneous optical and near-infrared spectra obtained during the 2021 outburst of the black hole transient 4U 1543-47. The X-ray hardness-intensity diagram and the comparison with similar systems reveal a luminous outburst, probably reaching the Eddington luminosity, as well as a long-lasting excursion to the so-called ultra-luminous state. VLT/X-shooter spectra were taken in two epochs 14 days apart during the early and brightest part of the outburst, while the source was in this ultra-luminous accretion state. The data show strong H and HeI emission lines, as well as high-excitation HeII and OIII transitions. Most lines are single-peaked in both spectra, except for the OIII lines that exhibit evident double-peaked profiles during the second epoch. The Balmer lines are embedded in broad absorption wings that we believe are mainly produced by the contribution of the A2V donor to the optical flux, which we estimate to be in the range of 11 to 14 per cent in the $r$ band during our observations. Although no conspicuous outflow features are found, we observe some wind-related line profiles, particularly in the near-infrared. Such lines include broad emission line wings and skewed red profiles, suggesting the presence of a cold (i.e. low ionisation) outflow with similar observational properties to those found in other low-inclination black hole transients., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

In this paper we construct a stringy embedding of the dark bubble model of an expanding 4D cosmology with the help of branes rotating in extra dimensions. The universe rides a bubble which has nucleated in an unstable higher dimensional background. Our construction is therefore a string theoretical realization of Vilenkin's quantum cosmology. While the cosmological constant vanishes at lowest order, loop corrections predicted by the Weak Gravity Conjecture can induce a phenomenologically viable value. The model predicts the existence of large extra dimensions compatible with observational constraints, and we note a possible connection with the dark dimension proposal., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

We present a new method to derive binary inclinations in quiescent black hole (BH) X-ray transients (XRTs), based on the depth of the trough (T) from double-peaked Ha emission profiles arising in accretion discs. We find that the inclination angle (i) is linearly correlated with T in phase-averaged spectra with sufficient orbital coverage (>~50 per cent) and spectral resolution, following i (deg)=93.5 x T +23.7. The correlation is caused by a combination of line opacity and local broadening, where a leading (excess broadening) component scales with the de-projected velocity of the outer disc. Interestingly, such scaling allows to estimate the fundamental ratio M1/Porb by simply resolving the intrinsic width of the double-peak profile. We apply the T-i correlation to derive binary inclinations for GRO J0422+32 and Swift J1357-0933, two BH XRTs where strong flickering activity has hindered determining their values through ellipsoidal fits to photometric light curves. Remarkably, the inclination derived for GRO J0422+32 (i=55.6+-4.1) implies a BH mass of 2.7+0.7-0.5 Msun thus placing it within the gap that separates BHs from neutron stars. This result proves that low-mass BHs exist in nature and strongly suggests that the so-called "mass gap" is mainly produced by low number statistics and possibly observational biases. On the other hand, we find that Swift J1357-0933 contains a 10.9+1.7-1.6 Msun BH seen nearly edge on (i=87.4+2.6-5.6 deg). Such extreme inclination, however, should be treated with caution since it relies on extrapolating the T-i correlation beyond i>~75 deg, where it has not yet been tested., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 21 pages, 15 figures, 6 Tables; references and typos corrected

MAXI J1348-630 is a low mass X-ray binary discovered in 2019 during a bright outburst. During this event, the system sampled both hard and soft states following the standard evolution. We present multi-epoch optical and near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope. Our dataset includes spectra taken during the brightest phases of the outburst as well as the decay towards quiescence. We study the evolution of the main emission lines, paying special attention to the presence of features commonly associated with accretion disc winds, such as blue-shifted absorptions, broad emission line wings and flat-top profiles. We find broad emission line wings in H-alpha during the hard-to-soft transition and blue-shifted absorption troughs at ~-500 km/s in H-beta, HeI-5876, H-alpha and Pa-beta during the bright soft-intermediate state. In addition, flat-top profiles are seen throughout the outburst. We interpret these observables as signatures of a cold (i.e. optical to infrared) accretion disc wind present in the system. We discuss the properties of the wind and compare them with those seen in other X-ray transients. In particular, the wind velocity that we observe is low when compared to those of other systems, which might be a direct consequence of the relatively low binary inclination, as suggested by several observables. This study strengthen the hypothesis that cold winds are a common feature in low mass X-ray binaries and that they can also be detected in low inclination objects via high-quality optical and infrared spectroscopy., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

In this paper we construct the 5D uplift of 4D gravitational waves in de Sitter cosmology for the brane world scenario based on a nucleated bubble in AdS5. This makes it possible to generalize the connection between the dark bubbles and Vilenkin's quantum cosmology to include gravitational perturbations. We also use the uplift to explain the interpretation of the apparently negative energy contributions in the 4D Einstein equations, which distinguish the dark bubble scenario from Randall-Sundrum., Comment: 24 pages, including refs, 1 figure

We present twelve epochs of optical spectroscopy taken across the discovery outburst of the black hole candidate MAXI J1803-298 with the GTC and VLT telescopes. The source followed a standard outburst evolution with hard and soft states. The system displays a triangular shape in the hardness intensity diagram, consistent with that seen in high inclination black hole transients and the previously reported detection of X-ray dips. The two epochs observed during the initial hard state exhibited asymmetric emission line profiles, including a P-Cygni profile simultaneously detected in H-alpha and He I 6678, which indicates the presence of an optical wind in the system. The remaining spectra, obtained during the transition to the soft state and the subsequent decay, are instead characterized by narrower, double peaked emission lines embedded into broad absorption components. One epoch (intermediate state) also includes near-infrared coverage, revealing complex line profiles in the Paschen and Bracket series, which suggests that the outflow is still present during the outburst decay through the soft state. The growing list of low-mass X-ray binaries with optical and near-infrared outflow signatures indicates that these are common features. Furthermore, the lowest luminosity spectrum exhibits an H-alpha full-width-at-half-maximum of 1570 +- 100 km/s. This, together with previous constraints on the binary parameters, allows us to favor a compact object mass of ~ 3-10 Msun, further supporting its black hole nature., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters on the 23rd of January 2022

We prove that the Beta random walk has second order cubic fluctuations from the large deviation principle of the GUE Tracy-Widom type for arbitrary values $\upalpha>0$ and $\upbeta>0$ of the parameters of the Beta distribution, removing previous restrictions on their values. Furthermore, we prove that the GUE Tracy-Widom fluctuations still hold in the intermediate disorder regime. We also show that any random walk in space-time random environment that matches certain moments with the Beta random walk also has GUE Tracy-Widom fluctuations in the intermediate disorder regime. As a corollary we show the emergence of GUE Tracy-Widom fluctuations from the large deviation principle for trajectories ending at boundary points for random walks in space (time-independent) i.i.d. Dirichlet random environment in dimension $d=2$ for a class of asymptotic behavior of the parameters., Comment: 49 pages, 3 figures. A new figure has been added. The new Lemma 3.8 has been added, which replaces part (iv) of Corollary 3.7 of the previous arxiv version, whose proof had an error which is now corrected

The microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal stability of AlTiN and AlTiBN coatings grown by reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) have been analyzed as a function of Al/(Al+Ti) ratio, x, between 0.5 and 0.8. The coatings were predominantly formed by a face-centered cubic Ti(Al)N crystalline phase, both with and without B, even for x ratios as high as 0.6, which is higher than the ratio typically encountered for AlTiN coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. B doping, in combination with the highly energetic deposition conditions offered by HiPIMS, results in the suppression of the columnar grain morphology typically encountered in AlTiN coatings. On the contrary, the AlTiBN coatings grown by HiPIMS present a dense nanocomposite type microstructure, formed by nanocrystalline Ti(Al)N domains and amorphous regions composed of Ti(Al)B2 and BN. As a result, high-Al content (x>0.6) AlTiBN coatings grown by HiPIMS offer higher hardness, elasticity and fracture toughness than AlTiN coatings. Moreover, the thermal stability and the hot hardness are substantially enhanced, delaying the onset of formation of the detrimental hexagonal AlN phase from 850 C in the case of AlTiN, to 1000 C in the case of AlTiBN.

We argue that the choice of boundary condition for the wave function in quantum cosmology depends on the UV completion of general relativity. We provide an explicit example using a braneworld scenario in which a de Sitter cosmology is induced on the surface of a Coleman-de Luccia bubble in a 5-dimensional AdS space. The corresponding boundary conditions are unambigously fixed by demanding consistency with the known physics of bubble nucleation and this selects the Vilenkin weighting for the amplitude from a 4D viewpoint., Comment: 10 pages, including refs: v2 published version with updated refs and small edits throughout

Aquila X-1 is a prototypical neutron star low mass X-ray binary and one of the most studied X-ray transients. We present optical spectroscopy obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (10.4 m) during the 2016 outburst, the brightest in recent times, which showed a standard evolution with hard and soft accretion states. Our data set includes a dense coverage of the brightest phases of the event, as well as the decay towards quiescence. We searched for optical winds by studying the profiles and evolution of the main emission lines and found no indisputable wind signatures, such as P-Cyg profiles. Nonetheless, our detailed analysis of the particularly strong and broad Halpha emission line, detected at the end of the outburst, is consistent with the presence of a nebular phase produced by optically thin ejecta at ~800 km/s or, alternatively, an extended disc atmosphere. We discuss these possibilities as well as the similarities with the phenomenology observed in other black hole and neutron star systems. Our study suggests that optical nebular phases might be a relatively common observational feature during the late stages of low mass X-ray binaries outbursts, enabling to probe the presence of outflows at low-to-intermediate orbital inclinations., Comment: Accepted, final version published in A&A

We present optical spectroscopy obtained with the GTC, VLT and SALT telescopes during the decline of the 2016-2017 outburst of the black hole candidate GRS 1716-249 (Nova Oph 1993). Our 18-epoch data set spans 6 months and reveals that the observational properties of the main emission lines are very variable, even on time scales of a few hours. Several epochs are characterised by P-Cyg (as well as flat-top and asymmetric) profiles in the H$\alpha$, H$\beta$ and He II ($\lambda$4686) emission lines, implying the presence of an accretion disc wind, which is likely hot and dense. The wind's terminal velocity ($\sim$2000 km s$^{-1}$) is similar to that observed in other black hole X-ray transients. These lines also show transient and sharp red-shifted absorptions, taking the form of inverted P-Cyg profiles. We argue that these profiles can be explained by the presence of infalling material at $\sim$1300 km s$^{-1}$. We propose a failed wind scenario to explain this inflow and discuss other alternatives, such as obscuration produced by an accretion-related structure (e.g. the gas stream) in a high inclination system., Comment: Published in MNRAS main journal

We present the discovery of an optical accretion disk wind in the X-ray transient Swift J1858.6-0814. Our 90-spectrum data set, taken with the 10.4m GTC telescope over 8 different epochs and across five months, reveals the presence of conspicuous P-Cyg profiles in He I at 5876 Angs and Halpha. These features are detected throughout the entire campaign, albeit their intensity and main observational properties are observed to vary on time-scales as short as five minutes. In particular, we observe significant variations in the wind velocity, between a few hundreds and ~ 2400 km/s. In agreement with previous reports, our observations are characterised by the presence of frequent flares, although the relation between the continuum flux variability and the presence/absence of wind features is not evident. The reported high activity of the system at radio waves indicates that the optical wind of Swift J1858.6-0814 is contemporaneous with the radio-jet, as is the case for the handful of X-ray binary transients that have shown so far optical P-Cyg profiles. Finally, we compare our results with those of other sources showing optical accretion disk winds, with emphasis on V404 Cyg and V4641 Sgr, since they also display strong and variable optical wind features as well as similar flaring behaviour., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Social network based applications have experienced exponential growth in recent years. One of the reasons for this rise is that this application domain offers a particularly fertile place to test and develop the most advanced computational techniques to extract valuable information from the Web. The main contribution of this work is three-fold: (1) we provide an up-to-date literature review of the state of the art on social network analysis (SNA);(2) we propose a set of new metrics based on four essential features (or dimensions) in SNA; (3) finally, we provide a quantitative analysis of a set of popular SNA tools and frameworks. We have also performed a scientometric study to detect the most active research areas and application domains in this area. This work proposes the definition of four different dimensions, namely Pattern & Knowledge discovery, Information Fusion & Integration, Scalability, and Visualization, which are used to define a set of new metrics (termed degrees) in order to evaluate the different software tools and frameworks of SNA (a set of 20 SNA-software tools are analyzed and ranked following previous metrics). These dimensions, together with the defined degrees, allow evaluating and measure the maturity of social network technologies, looking for both a quantitative assessment of them, as to shed light to the challenges and future trends in this active area., Comment: This paper is currently under evaluation in Information Fusion journal

The balanced excited random walk, introduced by Benjamini, Kozma and Schapira in $2011$, is defined as a discrete time stochastic process in $\mathbb Z^d$, depending on two integer parameters $1\le d_1,d_2\le d$, which whenever it is at a site $x\in\mathbb Z^d$ at time $n$, it jumps to $x\pm e_i$ with uniform probability, where $e_1,\ldots,e_d$ are the canonical vectors, for $1\le i\le d_1$, if the site $x$ was visited for the first time at time $n$, while it jumps to $x\pm e_i$ with uniform probability, for $1+d-d_2\le i\le d$, if the site $x$ was already visited before time $n$. Here we give an overview of this model when $d_1+d_2=d$ and introduce and study the cases when $d_1+d_2>d$. In particular, we prove that for all the cases $d\ge 5$ and most cases $d=4$, the balanced excited random walk is transient., Comment: 9 pages

The alt-right is a far-right movement that has uniquely developed on social media, before becoming prominent in the 2016 United States presidential elections. However, very little research exists about their discourse and organization online. This study aimed to analyze how a sample of alt-right supporters organized themselves in the week before and after the 2018 midterm elections in the US, along with which topics they most frequently discussed. Using community finding and topic extraction algorithms, results indicated that the sample commonly used racist language and anti-immigration themes, criticised mainstream media and advocated for alternative media sources, whilst also engaging in discussion of current news stories. A subsection of alt-right supporters were found to focus heavily on white supremacist themes. Furthermore, small groups of alt-right supporters discussed anime, technology and religion. These results supported previous results from studies investigating the discourse of alt-right supporters.

We report on a detailed optical spectroscopic follow-up of the black hole transient MAXI J1820+070 (ASASSN-18ey). The observations cover the main part of the X-ray binary outburst, when the source alternated between hard and soft states following the classical pattern widely seen in other systems. We focus the analysis on the He I emission lines at 5876 and 6678 Angs, as well as on Halpha. We detect clear accretion disk wind features (P-Cyg profiles and broad emission line wings) in the hard state, both during outburst rise and decay. These are not witnessed during the several months long soft state. However, our data suggest that the visibility of the outflow might be significantly affected by the ionisation state of the accretion disk. The terminal velocity of the wind is above ~ 1200 km/s, which is similar to outflow velocities derived from (hard-state) optical winds and (soft-state) X-ray winds in other systems. The wind signatures, in particular the P-Cyg profiles, are very shallow, and their detection has only been possible thanks to a combination of source brightness and intense monitoring at very high signal-to-noise. This study indicates that cold, optical winds are most likely a common feature of black hole accretion, and therefore, that wind-like outflows are a general mechanism of mass and angular momentum removal operating throughout the entire X-ray binary outburst., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters