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In quantum gravity phenomenology, the effect of the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) on white dwarfs has been given much attention in the literature. However, these studies assume a zero temperature equation of state (EoS), consequently excluding young white dwarfs whose initial temperatures are substantially high. To that cause, this paper calculates the Chandrasekhar EoS and resulting mass-radius relations of finite temperature white dwarfs modified by the quadratic GUP, an approach that extends Heisenberg's uncertainty principle by a quadratic term in momenta. The EoS was first approximated by treating the quadratic GUP parameter as perturbative, causing the EoS to exhibit expected thermal deviations at low pressures, and conflicting behaviors at high pressures, depending on the order of approximation. We then proceeded with a full numerical simulation of the modified EoS, and showed that in general, finite temperatures cause the EoS at low pressures to soften, while the quadratic GUP stiffens the EoS at high pressures. This modified EoS was then applied to the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations and its classical approximation to obtain the modified mass-radius relations for general relativistic and Newtonian white dwarfs. The relations for both cases were found to exhibit the expected thermal deviations at small masses, where low-mass white dwarfs are shifted to the high-mass regime at large radii, while high-mass white dwarfs acquire larger masses, beyond the Chandrasekhar limit. Additionally, we find that for sufficiently large values of the GUP parameter and temperature, we obtain mass-radius relations that are completely removed from the ideal case, as high-mass deviations due to GUP and low-mass deviations due to temperature are no longer mutually exclusive.

We report measurements of the gravitationally lensed secondary image -- the first in an infinite series of so-called "photon rings" -- around the supermassive black hole M87* via simultaneous modeling and imaging of the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations. The inferred ring size remains constant across the seven days of the 2017 EHT observing campaign and is consistent with theoretical expectations, providing clear evidence that such measurements probe spacetime and a striking confirmation of the models underlying the first set of EHT results. The residual diffuse emission evolves on timescales comparable to one week. We are able to detect with high significance a southwestern extension consistent with that expected from the base of a jet that is rapidly rotating in the clockwise direction. This result adds further support to the identification of the jet in M87* with a black hole spin-driven outflow, launched via the Blandford-Znajek process. We present three revised estimates for the mass of M87* based on identifying the modeled thin ring component with the bright ringlike features seen in simulated images, one of which is only weakly sensitive to the astrophysics of the emission region. All three estimates agree with each other and previously reported values. Our strongest mass constraint combines information from both the ring and the diffuse emission region, which together imply a mass-to-distance ratio of $4.20^{+0.12}_{-0.06}~\mu{\rm as}$ and a corresponding black hole mass of $(7.13\pm0.39)\times10^9M_\odot$, where the error on the latter is now dominated by the systematic uncertainty arising from the uncertain distance to M87*.

Today's diagnostics include devices such as pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, and temperature measurements. These devices provide vital information to medical personnel when making treatment decisions. Drawing inspiration from the fundamental utility of pulse oximeters, we present a methodology for a robust low-cost approach to imaging subsurface vasculature and monitoring heart rate. The approach uses off-the-shelf equipment, set up in free space without physical contact and exploits the nature of the interaction between light at near-infrared wavelengths with tissue. Image processing algorithms extract heart rate information from the snapshot and video sequence captured at a stand-off distance. The method can be applied in a room with ambient light and remains robust to scenarios comparable to medical situations. This research sets the platform for future diagnostic devices based on imaging systems and algorithms for non-contact point-of-care investigations., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures

In this report we construct a family of holomorphic functions $\beta_{\lambda,\mu} (s)$ which behave asymptotically like iterated exponentials as $|s| \to \infty$ in the right half plane. Each $\beta_{\lambda,\mu}$ satisfies a convenient functional relationship with nested exponentials; and has a series expansion that converges in a half-plane. They provide a nearness to the dynamics of the map $e^{\mu z} : \mathbb{C}\to\mathbb{C}$ and behave asymptotically as a fractional iteration would behave. These objects are used to describe the various orbits of the exponential function. We describe where Abel equations are feasibly constructed from $\beta$. Where there exists wildly holomorphic functions with period $2 \pi i / \lambda$ that are holomorphic Abel functions of the form $t(s+1) = e^{\mu t(s)}$., Comment: 100 pages, about 30 figures

Cosmological analyses with type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) often assume a single empirical relation between color and luminosity ($\beta$) and do not account for varying host-galaxy dust properties. However, from studies of dust in large samples of galaxies, it is known that dust attenuation can vary significantly. Here we take advantage of state-of-the-art modeling of galaxy properties to characterize dust parameters (dust attenuation $A_V$, and a parameter describing the dust law slope $R_V$) for the Dark Energy Survey (DES) SN Ia host galaxies using the publicly available \texttt{BAGPIPES} code. Utilizing optical and infrared data of the hosts alone, we find three key aspects of host dust that impact SN Ia cosmology: 1) there exists a large range ($\sim1-6$) of host $R_V$ 2) high stellar mass hosts have $R_V$ on average $\sim0.7$ lower than that of low-mass hosts 3) there is a significant ($>3\sigma$) correlation between the Hubble diagram residuals of red SNe Ia that when corrected for reduces scatter by $\sim13\%$ and the significance of the ``mass step'' to $\sim1\sigma$. These represent independent confirmations of recent predictions based on dust that attempted to explain the puzzling ``mass step'' and intrinsic scatter ($\sigma_{\rm int}$) in SN Ia analyses. We also find that red-sequence galaxies have both lower and more peaked dust law slope distributions on average in comparison to non red-sequence galaxies. We find that the SN Ia $\beta$ and $\sigma_{\rm int}$ both differ by $>3\sigma$ when determined separately for red-sequence galaxy and all other galaxy hosts. The agreement between fitted host-$R_V$ and SN Ia $\beta$ \& $\sigma_{\rm int}$ suggests that host dust properties play a major role in SN Ia color-luminosity standardization and supports the claim that SN Ia intrinsic scatter is driven by $R_V$ variation., Comment: 22 pages. Submitted to MNRAS

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9

The discovery of molecules with tailored optoelectronic properties such as specific frequency and intensity of absorption or emission is a major challenge in creating next-generation organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and photovoltaics. This raises the question: how can we predict a potential chemical structure from these properties? Approaches that attempt to tackle this inverse design problem include virtual screening, active machine learning and genetic algorithms. However, these approaches rely on a molecular database or many electronic structure calculations, and significant computational savings could be achieved if there was prior knowledge of (i) whether the optoelectronic properties of a parent molecule could easily be improved and (ii) what morphing operations on a parent molecule could improve these properties. In this perspective we address both of these challenges from first principles. We firstly adapt the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule to organic chromophores and show how this indicates how easily the absorption and emission of a molecule can be improved. We then show how by combining electronic structure theory and intensity borrowing perturbation theory we can predict whether or not the proposed morphing operations will achieve the desired spectral alteration, and thereby derive widely-applicable design rules. We go on to provide proof-of-concept illustrations of this approach to optimizing the visible absorption of acenes and the emission of radical OLEDs. We believe this approach can be integrated into genetic algorithms by biasing morphing operations in favour of those which are likely to be successful, leading to faster molecular discovery and greener chemistry., Comment: The following article has been accepted by The Journal of Chemical Physics. After it is published, it will be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0082311