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Circumbinary planets - planets that orbit both stars in a binary system - offer the opportunity to study planet formation and orbital migration in a different environment compare to single stars. However, despite the fact that > 90% of binary systems in the solar neighbourhood are spectrally resolved double-lined binaries, there has been only one detection of a circumbinary planet orbitting a double-lined binary using the radial velocity method so far. Spectrally disentangling both components of a binary system is hard to do accurately. Weak spectral lines blend with one another in a time-varying way, and inaccuracy in spectral modelling can lead to an inaccurate estimation of the radial-velocity of each component. This inaccuracy adds scatter to the measurements that can hide the weak radial-velocity signature of circumbinary exoplanets. We have obtained new high signal-to-noise and high-resolution spectra with the SOPHIE spectrograph, mounted on the 193cm telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) for six, bright, double-lined binaries for which a circumbinary exoplanet detection has been attempted in the past. To extract radial-velocities we use the DOLBY code, a recent method of spectral disentangling using Gaussian processes to model the time-varying components. We analyse the resulting radial-velocities with a diffusive nested sampler to seek planets, and compute sensitivity limits. We do not detect any new circumbinary planet. However, we show that the combination of new data, new radial-velocity extraction methods, and new statistical methods to determine a dataset's sensitivity to planets leads to an approximately one order of magnitude improvement compared to previous results. This improvement brings us into the range of known circumbinary exoplanets and paves the way for new campaigns of observations targeting double-lined binaries., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Many compact objects (black holes and neutron stars) exist in binaries. These binaries are normally discovered through their interactions, either from accretion as an X-ray binary or collisions as a gravitational wave source. However, the majority of compact objects in binaries should be non-interacting. Recently proposed discoveries have used radial velocities of a bright star (main sequence or evolved) that are indicative of a massive but dark companion, which is inferred to be a compact object. Unfortunately, this burgeoning new field has been hindered by false positives, including the ``Unicorn'' (V723 Mon) which was initially believed to be a red giant/black hole binary before being refuted. In this work, we investigate the evolution of stellar binary populations over time, using the binary evolution code COSMIC to simulate binary populations and determine the probability of a candidate object being either a ``true Unicorn'' (actual compact objects in binaries) or a false positive. We find that main sequence stars have a higher true Unicorn probability than red giants or naked helium stars (an exposed core of an evolved star), particularly if the companion is more massive and is >3 times less luminous than the MS star. We also find that a top-heavy initial mass function raises the true Unicorn probability further, that super-solar metallicity reduces the probability, and that most true Unicorns are found at periods <100 days. Finally, we find that a significant fraction of true Unicorns do not evolve into x-ray binaries during the age of the universe., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, submitted to MNRAS

Precise and accurate mass and radius measurements of evolved stars are crucial to calibrating stellar models. Stars in detached eclipsing binaries (EBs) are excellent potential calibrators because their stellar parameters can be measured with fractional uncertainties of a few percent, independent of stellar models. The All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) has identified tens of thousands of EBs, >35,000 of which were included in the ASAS-SN eclipsing binaries catalog. Here, we select eight EBs from this sample that contain giants based on their Gaia colors and absolute magnitudes. We use LBT/PEPSI, APF, and CHIRON to obtain multi-epoch spectra of these binaries and measure their radial velocities using two-dimensional cross-correlation methods. We simultaneously fit the ASAS-SN light curves and the radial velocities with PHOEBE to derive accurate and precise masses and radii with fractional uncertainties of $\lesssim 3\%$. For four systems, we also include Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) light curves in our PHOEBE models, which significantly improves the radius determinations. In seven of our systems, both components have evolved off of the main sequence, and one system has a giant star component with a main sequence, Sun-like companion. Finally, we compare our mass and radius measurements to single-star evolutionary tracks and distinguish between systems that are first ascent red giant branch stars and those that are likely core helium-burning stars., Comment: 25 pages, 18 figures. Submitted to The Open Journal of Astrophysics

Satellite constellation interference occurs across astronomical disciplines. We present examples of interference from radio and $\gamma$-Ray astronomy to optical and spectroscopic interference in ground-based and space-borne facilities. In particular, we discuss the impact of artificial satellites on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope, as well as possible mitigation strategies for the European Southern Observatory 4-metre Multi-Object Spectrograph Telescope (ESO 4MOST). Furthermore, we shed light on how ground-based optical telescopes such as the Oukaimeden Observatory contribute to IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS) efforts that quantify satellite brightness., Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Satellite Constellations: Pathways Forward", proceedings of IAU Symposium 385

The origin of Hot Jupiters (HJs) is disputed between a variety of in situ and ex situ formation scenarios. One of the early proposed ex situ scenarios was the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) mechanism combined with tidal circularization, which can produce HJs with the aid of a stellar or planetary companion. However, observations have revealed a lack of stellar companions to HJs, which challenges the importance of the binary star-driven EKL plus tides scenario. In this work, we explore so far unaccounted-for stellar evolution effects on HJ formation, in particular the effect of white dwarf (WD) formation. Gaia observations have revealed that WDs often undergo a kick during formation, which can alter a binary's orbital configuration or even unbind it. Based on this WD kick, in this letter we propose and explore two novel HJ formation pathways: 1) HJs that are presently orbiting single stars, but were initially formed in a binary that was later unbound by a WD kick; 2) Binaries that survive the WD kick can trigger enhanced EKL oscillations and lead to 2nd generation HJ formation. We demonstrate that the majority of seemingly single HJs could have formed in binary star systems. As such, HJ formation in binaries via the EKL mechanism could be one of the dominant HJ formation pathways, and our results highlight that unaccounted-for stellar evolution effects, like WD formation, can obscure the actual origin of observed exoplanet populations., Comment: Submitted to ApJL. Comments are welcome

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a Cosmic Microwave Background experiment located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. SO consists of three small aperture telescopes (SATs) and one large aperture telescope (LAT) with a total of 60,000 detectors in six frequency bands. As an observatory, SO encompasses hundreds of hardware components simultaneously running at different readout rates, all separate from its 60,000 detectors on-sky and their metadata. We provide an overview of commissioning SO's data acquisition software system for SAT-MF1, the first SAT deployed to the Atacama site. Additionally, we share insights from deploying data access software for all four telescopes, detailing how performance limitations affected data loading and quality investigations, which led to site-compatible software improvements., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024 Second submission: fix typos

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a cosmic microwave background (CMB) observatory consisting of three small aperture telescopes and one large aperture telescope. SO is located in the Atacama Desert in Chile at an elevation of 5180m. Distributed among the four telescopes are over 60,000 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers across six spectral bands centered between 27 and 280 GHz. A large collection of ancillary hardware devices which produce lower rate `housekeeping' data are used to support the detector data collection. We developed a distributed control system, which we call the observatory control system (ocs), to coordinate data collection among all systems within the observatory. ocs is a core component of the deployed site software, interfacing with all on-site hardware. Alongside ocs we utilize a combination of internally and externally developed open source projects to enable remote monitoring, data management, observation coordination, and data processing. Deployment of a majority of the software is done using Docker containers. The deployment of software packages is partially done via automated Ansible scripts, utilizing a GitOps based approach for updating infrastructure on site. We describe an overview of the software and computing systems deployed within SO, including how those systems are deployed and interact with each other. We also discuss the timing distribution system and its configuration as well as lessons learned during the deployment process and where we plan to make future improvements., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a group of modern telescopes dedicated to observing the polarized cosmic microwave background (CMB), transients, and more. The Observatory consists of four telescopes and instruments, with over 60,000 superconducting detectors in total, located at ~5,200 m altitude in the Atacama Desert of Chile. During observations, it is important to ensure the detectors, telescope platforms, calibration and receiver hardware, and site hardware are within operational bounds. To facilitate rapid response when problems arise with any part of the system, it is essential that alerts are generated and distributed to appropriate personnel if components exceed these bounds. Similarly, alerts are generated if the quality of the data has become degraded. In this paper, we describe the SO alarm system we developed within the larger Observatory Control System (OCS) framework, including the data sources, alert architecture, and implementation. We also present results from deploying the alarm system during the commissioning of the SO telescopes and receivers., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. To be presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a next-generation ground-based telescope located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, designed to map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with unprecedented precision. The observatory consists of three small aperture telescopes (SATs) and one large aperture telescope (LAT), each optimized for distinct but complementary scientific goals. To achieve these goals, optimized scan strategies have been defined for both the SATs and LAT. This paper describes a software system deployed in SO that effectively translates high-level scan strategies into realistic observing scripts executable by the telescope, taking into account realistic observational constraints. The data volume of SO also necessitates a scalable software infrastructure to support its daily data processing needs. This paper also outlines an automated workflow system for managing data packaging and daily data reduction at the site., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, to be presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024

We revise general relativity (GR) from the perspective of calculus for moving surfaces (CMS). While GR is intrinsically constructed in pseudo-Riemannian geometry, a complete understanding of moving manifolds requires embedding in a higher dimension. It can only be defined by extrinsic Gaussian differential geometry and its extension to moving surfaces, known as CMS. Following the recent developments in CMS, we present a new derivation for the Einstein field equation and demonstrate the fundamental limitations of GR. Explicitly, we show that GR is an approximation of moving manifold equations and only stands for dominantly compressible space-time. While GR, with a cosmological constant, predicts an expanding universe, CMS shows fluctuation between inflation and collapse. We also show that the specific solution to GR with cosmological constant is constant mean curvature shapes. In the end, by presenting calculations for incompressible but deforming two-dimensional spheres, we indicate that material points moving with constant spherical velocities move like waves, strongly suggesting a resolution of the wave-corpuscular dualism problem., Comment: 9 pages, no figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2405.15575

Planets orbiting binary systems are relatively unexplored compared to those around single stars. Detections of circumbinary planets and planetary systems offer a first detailed view into our understanding of circumbinary planet formation and dynamical evolution. The BEBOP (Binaries Escorted by Orbiting Planets) radial velocity survey plays a special role in this adventure as it focuses on eclipsing single-lined binaries with an FGK dwarf primary and M dwarf secondary allowing for the highest-radial velocity precision using the HARPS and SOPHIE spectrographs. We obtained 4512 high-resolution spectra for the 179 targets in the BEBOP survey which we used to derive the stellar atmospheric parameters using both equivalent widths and spectral synthesis. We furthermore derive stellar masses, radii, and ages for all targets. With this work, we present the first homogeneous catalogue of precise stellar parameters for these eclipsing single-lined binaries., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

By combining newly obtained deep GBT 21cm observations with optical spectroscopic data, we present an analysis of the gas content of BreakBRD galaxies, a population denoted by their blue star-forming centers and red quenched disks that do not appear to follow the typical inside-out evolution of spiral galaxies. We confirm previous results that the neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas fractions of BreakBRDs are on-average lower than those of typical galaxies on the star-forming sequence (SFS), and find that their \ion{H}{1} fractions are generally higher than Green Valley (GV) galaxies. HI depletion times for BreakBRDs are roughly an order of magnitude lower than those of SFS galaxies, in stark contrast with GV galaxies that typically have much longer depletion times than SFS galaxies. The nuclear gas-phase metallicities of BreakBRDs have a broader distribution than SFS galaxies and are skewed towards slightly above-average values. BreakBRDs are systematically offset from the Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation towards lower baryonic mass at a given rotation velocity. They also have higher typical HI asymmetries than SFS galaxies, and of those galaxies with spatially resolved gas velocity fields from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey, two-thirds are either highly distorted or completely misaligned relative to the stellar disk. Evidence supports a scenario where BreakBRDs are in an early phase of quenching, and there is mixed evidence that their behavior is related to past merger activity., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Full data table available at https://www.stsci.edu/~dstark/publications.html

Superconducting qubits can be sensitive to abrupt energy deposits caused by cosmic rays and ambient radioactivity. Previous studies have focused on understanding possible correlated effects over time and distance due to cosmic rays. In this study, for the first time, we directly compare the response of a transmon qubit measured initially at the Fermilab SQMS above-ground facilities and then at the deep underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (INFN-LNGS, Italy). We observe same average qubit lifetime T$_1$ of roughly 80 microseconds at above and underground facilities. We then apply a fast decay detection protocol and investigate the time structure, sensitivity and relative rates of triggered events due to radiation versus intrinsic noise, comparing above and underground performance of several high-coherence qubits. Using gamma sources of variable activity we calibrate the response of the qubit to different levels of radiation in an environment with minimal background radiation. Results indicate that qubits respond to a strong gamma source and it is possible to detect particle impacts. However, when comparing above and underground results, we do not observe a difference in radiation induced-like events for these sapphire and niobium-based transmon qubits. We conclude that the majority of these events are not radiation related and to be attributed to other noise sources which by far dominate single qubit errors in modern transmon qubits., Comment: 9+7 pages, 7+5 figures

We have developed dynamic manifold solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations using an extension of differential geometry called the calculus for moving surfaces. Specifically, we have shown that the geometric solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations can take the form of fluctuating spheres, constant mean curvature surfaces, generic wave equations for compressible systems, and arbitrarily curved shapes for incompressible systems in various scenarios. These solutions apply to predominantly incompressible and compressible systems for the equations in any dimension, while the remaining cases are yet to be solved. We have demonstrated that for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, geometric solutions are always bound by the curvature tensor of the closed smooth manifold for every smooth velocity field. As a result, solutions always converge for systems with constant volumes., Comment: 9 pages, no figures

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a cosmic microwave background (CMB) survey experiment that includes small-aperture telescopes (SATs) observing from an altitude of 5,200 m in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The SO SATs will cover six spectral bands between 27 and 280 GHz to search for primordial B-modes to a sensitivity of $\sigma(r)=0.002$, with quantified systematic errors well below this value. Each SAT is a self-contained cryogenic telescope with a 35$^\circ$ field of view, 42 cm diameter optical aperture, 40 K half-wave plate, 1 K refractive optics, and $<0.1$ K focal plane that holds $>12,000$ TES detectors. We describe the nominal design of the SATs and present details about the integration and testing for one operating at 93 and 145 GHz.

This first VELOCE data release comprises 18,225 high-precision RV measurements of 258 bona fide classical Cepheids on both hemispheres collected mainly between 2010 and 2022, alongside 1161 additional observations of 164 other stars. The median per-observation RV uncertainty is 0.037 km/s, and some reach 0.002 km/s. Non-variable standard stars characterize RV zero-point stability and provide a base for future cross-calibrations. We determined zero-point differences between VELOCE and 31 literature data sets using template fitting and measured linear period changes of 146 Cepheids. Seventy six spectroscopic binary Cepheids and 14 candidates are identified using VELOCE data alone and are investigated in detail in a companion paper (VELOCE II). Several new insights into Cepheid pulsations were obtained, including: a) the most detailed description of the Hertzsprung progression by RVs; b) the identification of double-peaked bumps in the RV curve; c) clear evidence that virtually all Cepheids feature spectroscopic variability signals that lead to modulated RV variability. We identified 36 such stars, of which 4 also exhibit orbital motion. Linear radius variations depend strongly on pulsation period and a steep increase in slope of the $\Delta$R/p versus logP-relation is found near 10d, challenging the existence of a tight relation between Baade-Wesselink projection factors and pulsation periods. We investigated the accuracy of RV time series measurements, v$_\gamma$, and RV amplitudes published in Gaia's DR3 and determined an average offset of 0.65 \pm 0.11 km/s relative to VELOCE. We recommend adopting a single set of template correlation parameters for distinct classes of large-amplitude variable stars to avoid systematic offsets in v$_\gamma$ among stars belonging to the same class. Peak-to-peak amplitudes of Gaia RVs exhibit significant (16%) dispersion compared to VELOCE. [abridged], Comment: A&A in press, 46 pages, 35 figures, 20 tables. Some data only available via the CDS at publication. VELOCE DR1 data will be made public in FITS format via zenodo.org at DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10793507 upon publication of the paper in A&A

The atomic-to-molecular gas conversion is a critical step in the baryon cycle of galaxies, which sets the initial conditions for subsequent star formation and influences the multi-phase interstellar medium. We compiled a sample of 94 nearby galaxies with observations of multi-phase gas contents by utilizing public H I, CO, and optical IFU data from the MaNGA survey together with new FAST H I observations. In agreement with previous results, our sample shows that the global molecular-to-atomic gas ratio ($R_{\rm mol} \equiv$ log $M_{\rm H_2}/M_{\rm H\ I}$) is correlated with the global stellar mass surface density $\mu_*$ with a Kendall's $\tau$ coefficient of 0.25 and $p < 10^{-3}$, less tightly but still correlated with stellar mass and NUV$-$ r color, and not related to the specific star formation rate (sSFR). The cold gas distribution and kinematics inferred from the H I and CO global profile asymmetry and shape do not significantly rely on $R_{\rm mol}$. Thanks to the availability of kpc-scale observations of MaNGA, we decompose galaxies into H II, composite, and AGN-dominated regions by using the BPT diagrams. With increasing $R_{\rm mol}$, the fraction of H II regions within 1.5 effective radius decreases slightly; the density distribution in the spatially resolved BPT diagram also changes significantly, suggesting changes in metallicity and ionization states. Galaxies with high $R_{\rm mol}$ tend to have high oxygen abundance, both at one effective radius with a Kendall's $\tau$ coefficient of 0.37 ($p < 10^{-3}$) and their central regions. Among all parameters investigated here, the oxygen abundance at one effective radius has the strongest relation with global $R_{\rm mol}$, but the dependence of gas conversion on gas distribution and galaxy ionization states is weak., Comment: Accepted by SCPMA. We sincerely appreciate the constructive suggestions and comments from Lihwai Lin

There are many packages in Python which allow one to perform real-time processing on audio data. Unfortunately, due to the synchronous nature of the language, there lacks a framework which allows for distributed parallel processing of the data without requiring a large programming overhead and in which the data acquisition is not blocked by subsequent processing operations. This work improves on packages used for audio data collection with a light-weight backend and a simple interface that allows for distributed processing through a socket-based structure. This is intended for real-time audio machine learning and data processing in Python with a quick deployment of multiple parallel operations on the same data, allowing users to spend less time debugging and more time developing., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

Stellar binaries are ubiquitous in the galaxy and a laboratory for astrophysical effects. We use TESS to study photometric modulations in the lightcurves of 162 unequal mass eclipsing binaries from the EBLM (Eclipsing Binary Low Mass) survey, comprising F/G/K primaries and M-dwarf secondaries. We detect modulations on 81 eclipsing binaries. We catalog the rotation rates of the primary star in 69 binaries and discover 17 ellipsoidal variables. In a large portion (at least $\sim 51\%$) of our sample, we detect photometric modulations consistent with two over-densities of spots on the primary star that are roughly $180^{\circ}$ apart. We show that these so-called active longitudes are preferentially at the sub- and anti-stellar points on the primary star. Physically, this means that the spots on the primary star preferentially face directly towards and away from the secondary star., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures

We explore the use of aggregative crowdsourced forecasting (ACF) as a mechanism to help operationalize ``collective intelligence'' of human-machine teams for coordinated actions. We adopt the definition for Collective Intelligence as: ``A property of groups that emerges from synergies among data-information-knowledge, software-hardware, and individuals (those with new insights as well as recognized authorities) that enables just-in-time knowledge for better decisions than these three elements acting alone.'' Collective Intelligence emerges from new ways of connecting humans and AI to enable decision-advantage, in part by creating and leveraging additional sources of information that might otherwise not be included. Aggregative crowdsourced forecasting (ACF) is a recent key advancement towards Collective Intelligence wherein predictions (X\% probability that Y will happen) and rationales (why I believe it is this probability that X will happen) are elicited independently from a diverse crowd, aggregated, and then used to inform higher-level decision-making. This research asks whether ACF, as a key way to enable Operational Collective Intelligence, could be brought to bear on operational scenarios (i.e., sequences of events with defined agents, components, and interactions) and decision-making, and considers whether such a capability could provide novel operational capabilities to enable new forms of decision-advantage.

Existing approaches to Theory of Mind (ToM) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) overemphasize prompted, or cue-based, ToM, which may limit our collective ability to develop Artificial Social Intelligence (ASI). Drawing from research in computer science, cognitive science, and related disciplines, we contrast prompted ToM with what we call spontaneous ToM -- reasoning about others' mental states that is grounded in unintentional, possibly uncontrollable cognitive functions. We argue for a principled approach to studying and developing AI ToM and suggest that a robust, or general, ASI will respond to prompts \textit{and} spontaneously engage in social reasoning.

Human exposure to electromagnetic fields produced by two wearable antennas operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band was assessed by computational tools. Both antennas were designed to be attached to the skin, but they were intended for different applications. The first antenna was designed for off-body applications, i.e. to communicate with a device placed outside the body, while the second antenna model was optimized to communicate with a device located inside the body. The power absorption in human tissues was determined at several locations of adult male and female body models. The maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) value obtained with the off-body antenna was found on the torso of the woman model and was equal to 0.037 W/kg at 2.45 GHz. SAR levels increased significantly for the antenna transmitting inside the body. In this case, SAR values ranged between 0.23 and 0.45 W/kg at the same body location. The power absorbed in different body tissues and total power absorbed in the body were also calculated; the maximum total power absorbed was equal to 5.2 mW for an antenna input power equal to 10 mW.

In the hunt for Earth-like exoplanets it is crucial to have reliable host star parameters, as they have a direct impact on the accuracy and precision of the inferred parameters for any discovered exoplanet. For stars with masses between 0.35 and 0.5 ${\rm M_{\odot}}$ an unexplained radius inflation is observed relative to typical stellar models. However, for fully convective objects with a mass below 0.35 ${\rm M_{\odot}}$ it is not known whether this radius inflation is present as there are fewer objects with accurate measurements in this regime. Low-mass eclipsing binaries present a unique opportunity to determine empirical masses and radii for these low-mass stars. Here we report on such a star, EBLM J2114-39\,B. We have used HARPS and FEROS radial-velocities and \textit{TESS} photometry to perform a joint fit of the data, and produce one of the most precise estimates of a very low mass star's parameters. Using a precise and accurate radius for the primary star using {\it Gaia} DR3 data, we determine J2114-39 to be a $M_1 = 0.998 \pm 0.052$~${\rm M_{\odot}}$ primary star hosting a fully convective secondary with mass $M_2~=~0.0986~\pm 0.0038~\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$, which lies in a poorly populated region of parameter space. With a radius $R_2 =~0.1275~\pm0.0020~\,\mathrm{R_{\odot}}$, similar to TRAPPIST-1, we see no significant evidence of radius inflation in this system when compared to stellar evolution models. We speculate that stellar models in the regime where radius inflation is observed might be affected by how convective overshooting is treated., Comment: Accepted for publication MNRAS

Research suggests there is a perception that females and underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities have worse gameplay skills and produce less engaging video game streaming content. This bias might impact streamers' audience size, viewers' financial patronage of a streamer, streamers' sponsorship offers, etc. However, few studies on this topic use experimental methods. To fill this gap, we conducted a between-subjects survey experiment to examine if viewers are biased against video game streamers based on the streamer's gender or race/ethnicity. 200 survey participants rated the gameplay skill and viewer engagement of an identical gameplay recording. The only change between experimental conditions was the streamer's name who purportedly created the recording. The Dunnett's test found no statistically significant differences in viewer engagement ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White female (p = 0.37), Latino male (p = 0.66), or Asian male (p = 0.09) streamers. Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in gameplay skill ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White female (p = 0.10), Latino male (p = 1.00), or Asian male (p = 0.59) streamers. Potential contributors to statistically non-significant results and counter-intuitive results (i.e., White females received non-significantly higher ratings than White males) are discussed.

Ongoing ground-based radial-velocity observations seeking to detect circumbinary planets focus on single-lined binaries even though over nine in every ten binary systems in the solar-neighbourhood are double-lined. Double-lined binaries are on average brighter, and should in principle yield more precise radial-velocities. However, as the two stars orbit one another, they produce a time-varying blending of their weak spectral lines. This makes an accurate measure of radial velocities difficult, producing a typical scatter of 10-15m/s. This extra noise prevents the detection of most orbiting circumbinary planets. We develop two new data-driven approaches to disentangle the two stellar components of a double-lined binary, and extract accurate and precise radial-velocities. Both approaches use a Gaussian Process regression, with the first one working in the spectral domain, whereas the second works on cross-correlated spectra. We apply our new methods to TIC 172900988, a proposed circumbinary system with a double-lined binary, and detect a circumbinary planet with an orbital period of 150 days, different than previously proposed. We also measure a significant residual scatter, which we speculate is caused by stellar activity. We show that our two data-driven methods outperform the traditionally used TODCOR and TODMOR, for that particular binary system., Comment: 17 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Gas rich galaxies are typically star-forming. We make use of HI-MaNGA, a program of HI follow-up for the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys to construct a sample of unusual neutral hydrogen (HI, 21cm) rich galaxies which have low Star Formation Rates (SFRs); using infra-red color from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) as a proxy for specific SFR. Out of a set of 1575 MaNGA galaxies with HI-MaNGA detections, we find 83 (5%) meet our selection criteria to be HI rich with low SFR. We construct two stellar mass-matched control samples: HI rich galaxies with typical SFR (High SF Control) and HI poor galaxies with low SFR (Low HI Control). We investigate the properties of each of these samples, comparing physical parameters such as ionization state maps, stellar and ionized gas velocity and dispersion, environment measures, metallicity, and morphology to search for the reasons why these unusual HI rich galaxies are not forming stars. We find evidence for recent external accretion of gas in some galaxies (via high counter-rotating fractions), along with some evidence for AGN feedback (from a high cLIER and/or red geyser fraction), and bar quenching (via an enhanced strong bar fraction). Some galaxies in the sample are consistent with simply having their HI in a high angular momentum, large radius, low density disc. We conclude that no single physical process can explain all HI rich, low SFR galaxies., Comment: 15 pages, in press MNRAS. v2 following corrections noticed in proofs

Articulation agreements provide more transparency about how community college courses will transfer and fulfill university requirements. However, the literature displays conflicting results on whether articulation agreements improve transfer-related outcomes; perhaps one contributor to these conflicting research results is the subpar user experience of articulation agreement reports and the websites that host them. Accordingly, we surveyed and interviewed California community college transfer students to gather their suggestions for new academic-advising-related software features for the ASSIST website. ASSIST is California's official centralized repository of articulation agreement reports between public California community colleges and universities. We analyzed the open-ended survey and interview data using structural coding and thematic analysis. We identified four themes around students' software feature suggestions for ASSIST: (a) features that automate laborious academic advising tasks, (b) features to reduce ambiguity with articulation agreements, (c) features to mitigate mistakes in term-by-term course planning, and (d) features to facilitate online advising from advisors and student peers.

Over a dozen transiting circumbinary planets have been discovered around eclipsing binaries. Transit detections are biased towards aligned planet and binary orbits, and indeed all of the known planets have mutual inclinations less than $4.5^{\circ}$. One path to discovering circumbinary planets with misaligned orbits is through eclipse timing variations (ETVs) of non-transiting planets. Borkovits et al. (2016) discovered ETVs on the 18.6 d binary Kepler-1660AB, indicative of a third body on a $\approx 236$ d period, with a misaligned orbit and a potentially planetary mass. Getley et al. (2017) agreed with the planetary hypothesis, arguing for a $7.7M_{\rm Jup}$ circumbinary planet on an orbit that is highly misaligned by $120^{\circ}$ with respect to the binary. In this paper, we obtain the first radial velocities of the binary. We combine these with an analysis of not only the ETVs but also the eclipse depth variations. We confirm the existence of a $239.5$ d circumbinary planet, but with a lower mass of $4.87M_{\rm Jup}$ and a coplanar orbit. The misaligned orbits proposed by previous authors are definitively ruled out by a lack of eclipse depth variations. Kepler-1660ABb is the first confirmed circumbinary planet found using ETVs around a main sequence binary., Comment: Resubmitted to MNRAS following positive referee report

We investigate and compare the composition of M-dwarf planets in systems with only one known planet (``singles") to those residing in multi-planet systems (``multis") and the fundamental properties of their host stars. We restrict our analysis to planets with directly measured masses and radii, which comprise a total of 70 planets: 30 singles and 40 multis in 19 systems. We compare the bulk densities for the full sample, which includes planets ranging in size from $0.52 R_{\oplus}$ to $12.8R_\oplus$, and find that single planets have significantly lower densities on average than multis, which we cannot attribute to selection biases. We compare the bulk densities normalized by an Earth model for planets with $R_{p} < 6R_{\oplus}$, and find that multis are also denser with 99\% confidence. We calculate and compare the core/water mass fractions (CMF/WMF) of low-mass planets ($M_p <10 M_{\oplus}$), and find that the likely rocky multis (with $R_p <1.6 R_{\oplus}$) have lower CMFs than singles. We also compare the [Fe/H] metallicity and rotation period of all single versus multi-planet host stars with such measurements in the literature and find that multi-planet hosts are significantly more metal-poor than those hosting a single planet. Moreover, we find that host star metallicity decreases with increasing planet multiplicity. In contrast, we find only a modest difference in the rotation period. The significant differences in planetary composition and metallicity of the host stars point to different physical processes governing the formation of single- and multi-planet systems in M dwarfs., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to ApJ and under review. Comments welcome!

Objective: Community college students typically submit transfer applications to multiple universities. However, each university may have differing lower-division major requirements in order to transfer. Accordingly, our study examined one pain point users may have with ASSIST, which is California's official statewide database of articulation agreements. That pain point is cross-referencing multiple articulation agreements to manually develop an optimal academic plan. Optimal is defined as the minimal set of community college courses that satisfy all the transfer requirements for the multiple universities a student is preparing to apply to. Methods: To address that pain point, we designed a low-fidelity prototype that lists the minimal set of community college courses that a hypothetical optimization algorithm would output based on the user's selected articulation agreements. 24 California college students were tasked with creating an optimal academic plan using either ASSIST (which requires manual optimization) or the optimization prototype (which already provides the minimal set of classes). Results: Experiment participants assigned to use the prototype had less optimality mistakes in their academic plan, were faster in creating their plan, and provided higher usability ratings compared to the ASSIST users. All differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and had large effect sizes (d > 0.8). Conclusions: Our preliminary experiment suggests manually developing optimal academic plans can be error prone and that algorithm-generated academic plans can potentially reduce unnecessary excess community college credits. However, future research needs to move beyond our proof of value of a hypothetical optimization algorithm and towards actually implementing an algorithm.