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The Sun is depleted in refractory elements compared to nearby solar twins, which may be linked to the formation of giant or terrestrial planets. Here we present high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic data for 17 solar-like stars hosting planets, obtained with Magellan II/MIKE, to investigate whether this depletion is related to planet formation. We derive stellar parameters, including stellar atmosphere, age, radius, mass, and chemical abundances for 22 elements from carbon to europium through line-by-line differential analysis. Our uncertainties range from 0.01 dex for Fe and Si to 0.08 dex for Sr, Y, and Eu. By comparing the solar abundances to those of the 17 stars, we investigate the differential abundance ([X/Fe]$_{\rm solar}$ - [X/Fe]$_{\rm star}$) versus condensation temperature ($T_c$) trend. In particular, we apply Galactic chemical evolution corrections to five solar twins within the full sample. Our results conform to previous studies that the Sun is relatively depleted in refractory compared to volatile elements. For both five solar twins and the rest of solar-like stars, we find that all stars hosting known gas giant planets exhibit negative $T_c$ trend slopes, suggesting that the Sun is relatively depleted in refractory elements compared to similar giant-planet-host stars. Additionally, we find no correlation between $T_c$ trend slopes and the total mass of detected terrestrial planets in each system, suggesting that terrestrial planet formation may not be the cause of refractory element depletion in the Sun., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

XTE J1829-098 is a transient X-ray pulsar with a period of ~7.8 s. It is a candidate Be star system, although the evidence for this is not yet definitive. We investigated the twenty-year long X-ray light curve using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Proportional Counter Array (PCA), Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), and the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). We find that all three light curves are clearly modulated on the ~244 day orbital period previously reported from PCA monitoring observations, with outbursts confined to a narrow phase range. The light curves also show that XTE J1829-098 was in an inactive state between approximately December 2008 and April 2018 and no strong outbursts occurred. Such behavior is typical of Be X-ray binary systems, with the absence of outbursts likely related to the dissipation of the Be star's decretion disk. The mean outburst shapes can be approximated with a triangular profile and, from a joint fit of this to all three light curves, we refine the orbital period to 243.95 +/- 0.04 days. The mean outburst profile does not show any asymmetry and has a total phase duration of 0.140 +/- 0.007. However, the PCA light curve shows that there is considerable cycle-to-cycle variability of the individual outbursts. We compare the properties of XTE J1829-098 with other sources that show short phase-duration outbursts, in particular GS 1843-02 (2S 1845-024) which has a very similar orbital period, but longer pulse period, and whose orbit is known to be highly eccentric., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 21 pages

Recent constraints on neutron star mass and radius have advanced our understanding of the equation of state (EOS) of cold dense matter. Some of them have been obtained by modeling the pulses of three millisecond X-ray pulsars observed by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Here, we present a Bayesian parameter inference for a fourth pulsar, PSR J1231$-$1411, using the same technique with NICER and XMM-Newton data. When applying a broad mass-inclination prior from radio timing measurements and the emission region geometry model that can best explain the data, we find likely converged results only when using a limited radius prior. If limiting the radius to be consistent with the previous observational constraints and EOS analyses, we infer the radius to be $12.6 \pm 0.3$ km and the mass to be $1.04_{-0.03}^{+0.05}$ $M_\odot$, each reported as the posterior credible interval bounded by the $16\,\%$ and $84\,\%$ quantiles. If using an uninformative prior but limited between $10$ and $14$ km, we find otherwise similar results, but $R_{\mathrm{eq}} = 13.5_{-0.5}^{+0.3}$ km for the radius. In both cases, we find a nonantipodal hot region geometry where one emitting spot is at the equator or slightly above, surrounded by a large colder region, and where a noncircular hot region lies close to southern rotational pole. If using a wider radius prior, we only find solutions that fit the data significantly worse. We discuss the challenges in finding the better fitting solutions, possibly related to the weak interpulse feature in the pulse profile., Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures (2 of which are figure sets), 3 tables, published in ApJ

At sufficiently high pressures (~Mbar) and low temperatures (~1e3-1eK), hydrogen and helium become partly immiscible. Interpretations of Jupiter and Saturn's magnetic fields favor the existence of a statically stable layer near the Mbar pressure level. From experimental and computational data for the hydrogen-helium phase diagram we find that moist convection and diffusive convection are inhibited, implying a stable helium rain layer in both Jupiter and Saturn. However, we find a significant difference in terms of structure and evolution: In Jupiter, helium settling leads to a stable yet super-adiabatic temperature gradient that is limited by conductive heat transport. The phase separation region should extend only a few tens of kilometers instead of thousands in current-day models, and be characterized by a sharp increase of the temperature of about 500K for standard phase separation diagrams. In Saturn, helium rains occurs much deeper, implying a larger helium flux relative to planetary mass. We find that the significant latent heat associated with helium condensation implies that a large fraction, perhaps close to 100%, of the planet's intrinsic heat flux may be locally transported by the sinking helium droplets. This implies that Saturn may possess a much more extended helium-rain region. This also accounts, at least qualitatively, for the differences in strength and characteristics of the magnetic fields of the two planets. Dedicated models of magnetic field generation in both planets may offer observational constraints to further refine these findings., Comment: Accepted to PSJ

We present a plausible and coherent view of the evolution of the protosolar disk that is consistent with the cosmochemical constraints and compatible with observations of other protoplanetary disks and sophisticated numerical simulations. The evidence that high-temperature condensates, CAIs and AOAs, formed near the protosun before being transported to the outer disk can be explained by either an early phase of vigorous radial spreading of the disk, or fast transport of these condensates from the vicinity of the protosun towards large disk radii via the protostellar outflow. The assumption that the material accreted towards the end of the infall phase was isotopically distinct allows us to explain the observed dichotomy in nucleosynthetic isotopic anomalies of meteorites and leads to intriguing predictions on the isotopic composition of refractory elements in comets. When the infall of material waned, the disk started to evolve as an accretion disk. Initially, dust drifted inwards, shrinking the radius of the dust component to ~ 45 au, probably about 1/2 of the width of the gas component. Then structures must have emerged, producing a series of pressure maxima in the disk which trapped the dust on My timescales. This allowed planetesimals to form at radically distinct times without changing significantly of isotopic properties. There was no late accretion of material onto the disk via streamers. The disk disappeared in ~5 Myr, as indicated by paleomagnetic data in meteorites. In conclusion, the evolution of the protosolar disk seems to have been quite typical in terms of size, lifetime, and dust behavior, suggesting that the peculiarities of the Solar system with respect to extrasolar planetary system probably originate from the chaotic nature of planet formation and not at the level of the parental disk., Comment: In press in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Context. Inferring spectral parameters from X-ray data is one of the cornerstones of high-energy astrophysics, and is achieved using software stacks that have been developed over the last twenty years and more. However, as models get more complex and spectra reach higher resolutions, these established software solutions become more feature-heavy, difficult to maintain and less efficient. Aims. We present jaxspec, a Python package for performing this task quickly and robustly in a fully Bayesian framework. Based on the JAX ecosystem, jaxspec allows the generation of differentiable likelihood functions compilable on core or graphical process units (resp. CPU and GPU), enabling the use of robust algorithms for Bayesian inference. Methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of jaxspec samplers, in particular the No U-Turn Sampler, using a composite model and comparing what we obtain with the existing frameworks. We also demonstrate its ability to process high-resolution spectroscopy data and using original methods, by reproducing the results of the Hitomi collaboration on the Perseus cluster, while solving the inference problem using variational inference on a GPU. Results. We obtain identical results when compared to other softwares and approaches, meaning that jaxspec provides reliable results while being $\sim 10$ times faster than existing alternatives. In addition, we show that variational inference can produce convincing results even on high-resolution data in less than 10 minutes on a GPU. Conclusions. With this package, we aim to pursue the goal of opening up X-ray spectroscopy to the existing ecosystem of machine learning and Bayesian inference, enabling researchers to apply new methods to solve increasingly complex problems in the best possible way. Our long-term ambition is the scientific exploitation of the data from the newAthena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. Code and documentation can be found at jaxspec.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Controlling quantum spins using electric rather than magnetic fields promises significant architectural advantages for developing quantum technologies. In this context, spins in molecular nanomagnets offer tunability of spin-electric couplings (SEC) by rational chemical design. Here we demonstrate systematic control of SECs in a family of Mn(II)-containing molecules via chemical engineering. The trigonal bipyramidal (tbp) molecular structure with C3 symmetry leads to a significant molecular electric dipole moment that is directly connected to its magnetic anisotropy. The interplay between these two features gives rise to significant experimentally observed SECs, which can be rationalised by wavefunction theoretical calculations. Our findings guide strategies for the development of electrically controllable molecular spin qubits for quantum technologies., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

Constraining the formation processes of small solar system bodies is crucial for gaining insights into planetesimal formation. Their bulk densities, determined by their compressive strengths, offer valuable information about their formation history. In this paper, we utilize a formulation of the compressive strength of dust aggregates obtained from dust $N$-body simulations to establish the relation between bulk density and diameter. We find that this relation can be effectively approximated by a polytrope with an index of 0.5, coupled with a formulation of the compressive strength of dust aggregates. The lowest-density trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and main-belt asteroids (MBAs) are well reproduced by dust aggregates composed of 0.1-$\mathrm{\mu}$m-sized grains. However, most TNOs, MBAs, comets, and near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) exhibit higher densities, suggesting the influence of compaction mechanisms such as collision, dust grain disruption, sintering, or melting, leading to further growth. We speculate that there are two potential formation paths for small solar system bodies: one involves the direct coagulation of primordial dust grains, resulting in the formation of first-generation planetesimals, including the lowest-density TNOs, MBAs, and parent bodies of comets and NEAs. In this case, comets and NEAs are fragments or rubble piles of first-generation planetesimals, and objects themselves or rubbles are composed of 0.1-$\mathrm{\mu}$m-sized grains. The other path involves further potential fragmentation of first-generation planetesimals into compact dust aggregates observed in protoplanetary disks, resulting in the formation of second-generation planetesimals composed of compact dust aggregates, which may contribute to explaining another formation process of comets and NEAs., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

On May 27 2024, the Wide-field X-ray Telescope onboard the Einstein Probe (EP) mission detected enhanced X-ray emission from a new transient source in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) during its commissioning phase. Prompt follow-up with the EP Follow-up X-ray Telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope and NICER have revealed a very soft, thermally emitting source (kT$\sim$0.1 keV at the outburst peak) with an X-ray luminosity of $L\sim4\times10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$, labelled EP J005245.1-722843. This super-soft outburst faded very quickly in a week time. Several emission lines and absorption edges were present in the X-ray spectrum, including deep Nitrogen (0.67 keV) and Oxygen (0.87 keV) absorption edges. The X-ray emission resembles the SSS phase of typical nova outbursts from an accreting white dwarf (WD) in a binary system, despite the X-ray source being historically associated with an O9-B0e massive star exhibiting a 17.55 days periodicity in the optical band. The discovery of this super-soft outburst suggests that EP J005245.1-722843 is a BeWD X-ray binary: an elusive evolutionary stage where two main-sequence massive stars have undergone a common envelope phase and experienced at least two episodes of mass transfer. In addition, the very short duration of the outburst and the presence of Ne features hint at a rather massive, i.e., close to the Chandrasekhar limit, Ne-O WD in the system., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in ApJL

Pulse profile modeling of X-ray data from NICER is now enabling precision inference of neutron star mass and radius. Combined with nuclear physics constraints from chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT), and masses and tidal deformabilities inferred from gravitational wave detections of binary neutron star mergers, this has lead to a steady improvement in our understanding of the dense matter equation of state (EOS). Here we consider the impact of several new results: the radius measurement for the 1.42$\,M_\odot$ pulsar PSR J0437$-$4715 presented by Choudhury et al. (2024), updates to the masses and radii of PSR J0740$+$6620 and PSR J0030$+$0451, and new $\chi$EFT results for neutron star matter up to 1.5 times nuclear saturation density. Using two different high-density EOS extensions -- a piecewise-polytropic (PP) model and a model based on the speed of sound in a neutron star (CS) -- we find the radius of a 1.4$\,M_\odot$ (2.0$\,M_\odot$) neutron star to be constrained to the 95% credible ranges $12.28^{+0.50}_{-0.76}\,$km ($12.33^{+0.70}_{-1.34}\,$km) for the PP model and $12.01^{+0.56}_{-0.75}\,$km ($11.55^{+0.94}_{-1.09}\,$km) for the CS model. The maximum neutron star mass is predicted to be $2.15^{+0.14}_{-0.16}\,$$M_\odot$ and $2.08^{+0.28}_{-0.16}\,$$M_\odot$ for the PP and CS model, respectively. We explore the sensitivity of our results to different orders and different densities up to which $\chi$EFT is used, and show how the astrophysical observations provide constraints for the pressure at intermediate densities. Moreover, we investigate the difference $R_{2.0} - R_{1.4}$ of the radius of 2$\,M_\odot$ and 1.4$\,M_\odot$ neutron stars within our EOS inference., Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures; published version

We report Bayesian inference of the mass, radius and hot X-ray emitting region properties - using data from the Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) - for the brightest rotation-powered millisecond X-ray pulsar PSR J0437$\unicode{x2013}$4715. Our modeling is conditional on informative tight priors on mass, distance and binary inclination obtained from radio pulsar timing using the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) (Reardon et al. 2024), and we use NICER background models to constrain the non-source background, cross-checking with data from XMM-Newton. We assume two distinct hot emitting regions, and various parameterized hot region geometries that are defined in terms of overlapping circles; while simplified, these capture many of the possibilities suggested by detailed modeling of return current heating. For the preferred model identified by our analysis we infer a mass of $M = 1.418 \pm 0.037$ M$_\odot$ (largely informed by the PPTA mass prior) and an equatorial radius of $R = 11.36^{+0.95}_{-0.63}$ km, each reported as the posterior credible interval bounded by the 16% and 84% quantiles. This radius favors softer dense matter equations of state and is highly consistent with constraints derived from gravitational wave measurements of neutron star binary mergers. The hot regions are inferred to be non-antipodal, and hence inconsistent with a pure centered dipole magnetic field., Comment: 27 pages, 16 figures, + appendices. Accepted in ApJL. Data files and reproduction package available in Zenodo

Among the thousands of exoplanets discovered to date, approximately a few hundred gas giants on short-period orbits are classified as "lonely" and only a few are in a multi-planet system with a smaller companion on a close orbit. The processes that formed multi-planet systems hosting gas giants on close orbits are poorly understood, and only a few examples of this kind of system have been observed and well characterised. Within the contest of multi-planet system hosting gas-giant on short orbits, we characterise TOI-1130 system by measuring masses and orbital parameters. This is a 2-transiting planet system with a Jupiter-like planet (c) on a 8.35 days orbit and a Neptune-like planet (b) on an inner (4.07 days) orbit. Both planets show strong anti-correlated transit timing variations (TTVs). Furthermore, radial velocity (RV) analysis showed an additional linear trend, a possible hint of a non-transiting candidate planet on a far outer orbit. Since 2019, extensive transit and radial velocity observations of the TOI-1130 have been acquired using TESS and various ground-based facilities. We present a new photo-dynamical analysis of all available transit and RV data, with the addition of new CHEOPS and ASTEP+ data that achieve the best precision to date on the planetary radii and masses and on the timings of each transit. We were able to model interior structure of planet b constraining the presence of a gaseous envelope of H/He, while it was not possible to assess the possible water content. Furthermore, we analysed the resonant state of the two transiting planets, and we found that they lie just outside the resonant region. This could be the result of the tidal evolution that the system underwent. We obtained both masses of the planets with a precision less than 1.5%, and radii with a precision of about 1% and 3% for planet b and c, respectively., Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysics

We study ordinary differential equations in the complex domain, and investigate the absence of movable critical points (the Painlev\'e property) for systems of non-autonomous polynomial quadratic differential equations in two variables. We classify the systems having this property by studying, when it is possible, some obstructions described by Malmquist, and by reducing them to second-order equations of the first degree in one variable, for which the analysis of Painlev\'e and Gambier can be applied. We find that, in many cases, overcoming Malmquist's obstructions guarantees the absence of movable critical points.

Schmidt generalized in 1967 the theory of classical Diophantine approximation to subspaces of $\R^n$. We consider Diophantine exponents for linear subspaces of $\R^n$ which generalize the irrationality measure for real numbers. Using geometry of numbers, we construct subspaces of $\R^n$ for which we are able to compute the associated exponents for the last angle., Comment: 20 pages, comments are welcome

PSR J0740+6620 is the neutron star with the highest precisely determined mass, inferred from radio observations to be $2.08\pm0.07\,\rm M_\odot$. Measurements of its radius therefore hold promise to constrain the properties of the cold, catalyzed, high-density matter in neutron star cores. Previously, Miller et al. (2021) and Riley et al. (2021) reported measurements of the radius of PSR J0740+6620 based on Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) observations accumulated through 17 April 2020, and an exploratory analysis utilizing NICER background estimates and a data set accumulated through 28 December 2021 was presented in Salmi et al. (2022). Here we report an updated radius measurement, derived by fitting models of X-ray emission from the neutron star surface to NICER data accumulated through 21 April 2022, totaling $\sim1.1$ Ms additional exposure compared to the data set analyzed in Miller et al. (2021) and Riley et al. (2021), and to data from X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM-Newton) observations. We find that the equatorial circumferential radius of PSR J0740+6620 is $12.92_{-1.13}^{+2.09}$ km (68% credibility), a fractional uncertainty $\sim83\%$ the width of that reported in Miller et al. (2021), in line with statistical expectations given the additional data. If we were to require the radius to be less than 16 km, as was done in Salmi et al. (2024), then our 68% credible region would become $R=12.76^{+1.49}_{-1.02}$ km, which is close to the headline result of Salmi et al. (2024). Our updated measurements, along with other laboratory and astrophysical constraints, imply a slightly softer equation of state than that inferred from our previous measurements., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, +appendices. Accepted in ApJ

We report an updated analysis of the radius, mass, and heated surface regions of the massive pulsar PSR J0740+6620 using Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) data from 2018 September 21 to 2022 April 21, a substantial increase in data set size compared to previous analyses. Using a tight mass prior from radio timing measurements and jointly modeling the new NICER data with XMM-Newton data, the inferred equatorial radius and gravitational mass are $12.49_{-0.88}^{+1.28}$ km and $2.073_{-0.069}^{+0.069}$ $M_\odot$ respectively, each reported as the posterior credible interval bounded by the $16\,\%$ and $84\,\%$ quantiles, with an estimated systematic error $\lesssim 0.1$ km. This result was obtained using the best computationally feasible sampler settings providing a strong radius lower limit but a slightly more uncertain radius upper limit. The inferred radius interval is also close to the $R=12.76_{-1.02}^{+1.49}$ km obtained by Dittmann et al., when they require the radius to be less than $16$ km as we do. The results continue to disfavor very soft equations of state for dense matter, with $R<11.15$ km for this high-mass pulsar excluded at the $95\,\%$ probability. The results do not depend significantly on the assumed cross-calibration uncertainty between NICER and XMM-Newton. Using simulated data that resemble the actual observations, we also show that our pipeline is capable of recovering parameters for the inferred models reported in this paper., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures (2 of which are figure sets), 2 tables, published in ApJ

Pulse Profile Modeling (PPM), the technique used to infer mass, radius and geometric parameters for rotation-powered millisecond pulsars using data from the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), relies on relativistic ray-tracing of thermal X-ray photons from hot spots on the neutron star surface to the observer. To verify our ray-tracing codes we have in the past conducted cross-tests for simple hot spot geometries, focusing primarily on the implementation of the space-time model. In this paper, we present verification for test problems that explore the more complex hot spot geometries that are now being employed in the NICER PPM analyses. We conclude that the accuracy of our computed waveforms is in general sufficiently high for analyses of current NICER data sets. We have however identified some extreme configurations where extra care may be needed., Comment: Updated to version accepted by The Astrophysical Journal following their review process

We elaborate on a problem raised by Schmidt in 1967 which generalizes the theory of classical Diophantine approximation to subspaces of $\R^n$. We consider Diophantine exponents for linear subspaces of $\R^n$ which generalize the irrationality measure for real numbers. We prove here that we have no smooth relations among some functions associated to these exponents. To establish this result, we construct subspaces for which we are able to compute the exponents., Comment: 43 pages, comments are welcome

Precise crop yield predictions are of national importance for ensuring food security and sustainable agricultural practices. While AI-for-science approaches have exhibited promising achievements in solving many scientific problems such as drug discovery, precipitation nowcasting, etc., the development of deep learning models for predicting crop yields is constantly hindered by the lack of an open and large-scale deep learning-ready dataset with multiple modalities to accommodate sufficient information. To remedy this, we introduce the CropNet dataset, the first terabyte-sized, publicly available, and multi-modal dataset specifically targeting climate change-aware crop yield predictions for the contiguous United States (U.S.) continent at the county level. Our CropNet dataset is composed of three modalities of data, i.e., Sentinel-2 Imagery, WRF-HRRR Computed Dataset, and USDA Crop Dataset, for over 2200 U.S. counties spanning 6 years (2017-2022), expected to facilitate researchers in developing versatile deep learning models for timely and precisely predicting crop yields at the county-level, by accounting for the effects of both short-term growing season weather variations and long-term climate change on crop yields. Besides, we develop the CropNet package, offering three types of APIs, for facilitating researchers in downloading the CropNet data on the fly over the time and region of interest, and flexibly building their deep learning models for accurate crop yield predictions. Extensive experiments have been conducted on our CropNet dataset via employing various types of deep learning solutions, with the results validating the general applicability and the efficacy of the CropNet dataset in climate change-aware crop yield predictions., Comment: 13 pages

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is ESA's M3 mission designed to detect and characterise extrasolar planets and perform asteroseismic monitoring of a large number of stars. PLATO will detect small planets (down to <2 R_(Earth)) around bright stars (<11 mag), including terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. With the complement of radial velocity observations from the ground, planets will be characterised for their radius, mass, and age with high accuracy (5 %, 10 %, 10 % for an Earth-Sun combination respectively). PLATO will provide us with a large-scale catalogue of well-characterised small planets up to intermediate orbital periods, relevant for a meaningful comparison to planet formation theories and to better understand planet evolution. It will make possible comparative exoplanetology to place our Solar System planets in a broader context. In parallel, PLATO will study (host) stars using asteroseismology, allowing us to determine the stellar properties with high accuracy, substantially enhancing our knowledge of stellar structure and evolution. The payload instrument consists of 26 cameras with 12cm aperture each. For at least four years, the mission will perform high-precision photometric measurements. Here we review the science objectives, present PLATO's target samples and fields, provide an overview of expected core science performance as well as a description of the instrument and the mission profile at the beginning of the serial production of the flight cameras. PLATO is scheduled for a launch date end 2026. This overview therefore provides a summary of the mission to the community in preparation of the upcoming operational phases.

Young (<500 Myr) planets are critical to studying how planets form and evolve. Among these young planetary systems, multi-planet configurations are particularly useful as they provide a means to control for variables within a system. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a young planetary system, TOI-1224. We show that the planet-host resides within a young population we denote as MELANGE-5 . By employing a range of age-dating methods -- isochrone fitting, lithium abundance analysis, gyrochronology, and Gaia excess variability -- we estimate the age of MELANGE-5 to be 210$\pm$27 Myr. MELANGE-5 is situated in close proximity to previously identified younger (80 -110 Myr) associations, Crius 221 and Theia 424/Volans-Carina, motivating further work to map out the group boundaries. In addition to a planet candidate detected by the TESS pipeline and alerted as a TESS Object of Interest, TOI-1224 b, we identify a second planet, TOI-1224 c, using custom search tools optimized for young stars (Notch and LOCoR). We find the planets are 2.10$\pm$0.09$R_\oplus$ and 2.88$\pm$0.10$R_\oplus$ and orbit their host star every 4.18 and 17.95 days, respectively. With their bright ($K$=9.1 mag), small ($R_{*}$=0.44R$_{\odot}$), and cool ($T_{eff}$ =3326K) host star, these planets represent excellent candidates for atmospheric characterization with JWST., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal; 33 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables

The $\beta$ Pictoris system is the closest known stellar system with directly detected gas giant planets, an edge-on circumstellar disc, and evidence of falling sublimating bodies and transiting exocomets. The inner planet, $\beta$ Pictoris c, has also been indirectly detected with radial velocity (RV) measurements. The star is a known $\delta$ Scuti pulsator, and the long-term stability of these pulsations opens up the possibility of indirectly detecting the gas giant planets through time delays of the pulsations due to a varying light travel time. We search for phase shifts in the $\delta$ Scuti pulsations consistent with the known planets $\beta$ Pictoris b and c and carry out an analysis of the stellar pulsations of $\beta$ Pictoris over a multi-year timescale. We used photometric data collected by the BRITE-Constellation, bRing, ASTEP, and TESS to derive a list of the strongest and most significant $\delta$ Scuti pulsations. We carried out an analysis with the open-source python package maelstrom to study the stability of the pulsation modes of $\beta$ Pictoris in order to determine the long-term trends in the observed pulsations. We did not detect the expected signal for $\beta$ Pictoris b or $\beta$ Pictoris c. The expected time delay is 6 seconds for $\beta$ Pictoris c and 24 seconds for $\beta$ Pictoris b. With simulations, we determined that the photometric noise in all the combined data sets cannot reach the sensitivity needed to detect the expected timing drifts. An analysis of the pulsational modes of $\beta$ Pictoris using maelstrom showed that the modes themselves drift on the timescale of a year, fundamentally limiting our ability to detect exoplanets around $\beta$ Pictoris via pulsation timing., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Pulsars are detected over the whole electromagnetic spectrum, from radio wavelengths up to very high energies, in the GeV-TeV range. Whereas the radio emission site for young pulsars is well constrained to occur at altitudes about several percent of the light-cylinder radius and $\gamma$-ray emission is believed to be produced in the striped wind, outside the light-cylinder, their non-thermal X-ray production site remains unknown. The aim of this letter is to localize the non-thermal X-ray emission region based on multi-wavelength pulse profile fitting for PSR J2229+6114, a particularly good candidate due to its high X-ray brightness. Based on the geometry deduced from the joint radio and $\gamma$-ray pulse profiles, we fix the magnetic axis inclination angle and the line of sight inclination angle but we leave the region of X-ray emission unlocalised, somewhere between the surface and the light-cylinder. We localize this region and its extension by fitting the X-ray pulse profile as observed by the NICER, NuSTAR and RXTE telescopes in the ranges 2-7 keV, 3-10 keV and 9.4-22.4 keV, respectively. We constrain the non-thermal X-ray emission to arise from altitudes between $0.2\,r_L$ and $0.55\,r_L$ where $r_L$ is the light cylinder radius. The magnetic obliquity is approximately $\alpha \approx 45\deg-50\deg$ and the line of sight inclination angle $\zeta \approx 32\deg-48\deg$. This letter is among the first works to tightly constrain the location of the non-thermal X-ray emission from pulsars. We plan to apply this procedure to several other good candidates to confirm this new result., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

This paper presents a solver using the Level-Set method for incompressible two phase flows with surface tension. A one fluid approach is adopted where both phases share the same velocity and pressure field. The Level Set method has been coupled with the Ghost Fluid Method. An efficient and pragmatic solution is proposed to avoid interface displacement during the reinitialization of the level-Set fields. A solver called LSFoam has been implemented in the OpenFOAM framework with consistent Rhie & Chow interpolation. This solver has been tested on several test cases covering different scales and flow configurations: rising bubble test case, Rayleigh-Taylor instability simulations, Ogee spillway flow, 3D dambreak simulation with a square cylinder obstacle and KVLCC2 steady resistance calculations. Overall results are in excellent agreement with reference data and the present approach is very promising for moderate free surface deformations., Comment: 28 pages, 22 Figures

The Gamow-Teller strength distribution covering the entire $\beta$-decay window, up to 10.312(4) MeV, of $^{80g+m}$Ga was measured for the first time in photo-fission of UC$_x$ induced by 50 MeV electron beam. The new data show significant enhancement in the high-energy region with a jump-structure. Simultaneously, the $\gamma$ de-exciting behavior of $\beta$-populated states presents a competition between de-excitation to 2$_1^+$ [$\beta_2$ = 0.155(9)] and to 2$_2^+$ [$\beta_2$ = 0.053$_{0.009}^{0.008}$)] in $^{80}$Ge. Based on these facts and combined with a realistic shell model calculation and systematic analysis of logft ratio between precursor $\beta$-decay to 2$_2^+$ and to 2$_1^+$ of Ga isotopes, we conclude that these phenomena evidence simultaneous impacts of nuclear shell structure and collectivity on B(GT) and its distribution and, therefore, the half-life of the precursor. These data prove that the nucleus as a multi-nucleon correlated quantum system reacts as a whole when $\beta$-decay occurs in contrast to simple single-particle excitation. Additionally, the comparison with the theoretical results evidence how challenging is the description of the experimental data obtained, and render this experimental outcome a sound test for the theoretical models.

We prove in this paper that the solution of the time-dependent Schr{\"o}dinger equation can be expressed as the solution of a global space-time quadratic minimization problem that is amenable to Galerkin time-space discretization schemes, using an appropriate least-square formulation. The present analysis can be applied to the electronic many-body time-dependent Schr{\"o}dinger equation with an arbitrary number of electrons and interaction potentials with Coulomb singularities. We motivate the interest of the present approach with two goals: first, the design of Galerkin space-time discretization methods; second, the definition of dynamical low-rank approximations following a variational principle different from the classical Dirac-Frenkel principle, and for which it is possible to prove the global-in-time existence of solutions.

NASA's Juno mission provided exquisite measurements of Jupiter's gravity field that together with the Galileo entry probe atmospheric measurements constrains the interior structure of the giant planet. Inferring its interior structure range remains a challenging inverse problem requiring a computationally intensive search of combinations of various planetary properties, such as the cloud-level temperature, composition, and core features, requiring the computation of ~10^9 interior models. We propose an efficient deep neural network (DNN) model to generate high-precision wide-ranged interior models based on the very accurate but computationally demanding concentric MacLaurin spheroid (CMS) method. We trained a sharing-based DNN with a large set of CMS results for a four-layer interior model of Jupiter, including a dilute core, to accurately predict the gravity moments and mass, given a combination of interior features. We evaluated the performance of the trained DNN (NeuralCMS) to inspect its predictive limitations. NeuralCMS shows very good performance in predicting the gravity moments, with errors comparable with the uncertainty due to differential rotation, and a very accurate mass prediction. This allowed us to perform a broad parameter space search by computing only ~10^4 actual CMS interior models, resulting in a large sample of plausible interior structures, and reducing the computation time by a factor of 10^5. Moreover, we used a DNN explainability algorithm to analyze the impact of the parameters setting the interior model on the predicted observables, providing information on their nonlinear relation., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We present the discovery, with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), that SRGA J144459.2-604207 is a 447.9 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar (AMXP), which underwent a four-week long outburst starting on 2024 February 15. The AMXP resides in a 5.22 hr binary, orbiting a low-mass companion donor with $M_d>0.1M_\odot$. We report on the temporal and spectral properties from NICER observations during the early days of the outburst, from 2024 February 21 through 2024 February 23, during which NICER also detected a type-I X-ray burst that exhibited a plateau lasting ~6 s. The spectra of the persistent emission were well described by an absorbed thermal blackbody and power-law model, with blackbody temperature $kT\approx0.9{\rm\,keV}$ and power-law photon index $\Gamma\approx1.9$. Time-resolved burst spectroscopy confirmed the thermonuclear nature of the burst, where an additional blackbody component reached a maximum temperature of nearly $kT\approx3{\rm\,keV}$ at the peak of the burst. We discuss the nature of the companion as well as the type-I X-ray burst., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. Accepted by ApJL

We resolve an algebraic version of Schoenberg's celebrated theorem [Duke Math.J., 1942] characterizing entrywise matrix transforms that preserve positive definiteness. Compared to the classical real and complex settings, we consider matrices with entries in a finite field and obtain a complete characterization of such preservers for matrices of a fixed dimension. When the dimension of the matrices is at least $3$, we prove that, surprisingly, the positivity preservers are precisely the positive multiples of the field's automorphisms. We also obtain characterizations of preservers for matrices of dimension $2$ over a finite field with $q$ elements, unless $q \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and $q$ is not a square. Our proofs build on several novel connections between positivity preservers and field automorphisms via the works of Weil, Carlitz, and Muzychuk-Kov\'acs, and via the structure of cliques in Paley graphs., Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX; this version contains simplified proofs. Section 6 is completely new

The temperature structure of a giant planet was traditionally thought to be an adiabat assuming convective mixing homogenizes entropy. The only in-situ measurement made by the Galileo Probe detected a near-adiabatic temperature structure within one of Jupiter's 5$\mu$m hot spots with small but definite local departures from adiabaticity. We analyze Juno's microwave observations near Jupiter's equator (0 ~ 5$^o$N) and find that the equatorial temperature structure is best characterized by a stable super-adiabatic temperature profile rather than an adiabatic one. Water is the only substance with sufficient abundance to alter the atmosphere's mean molecular weight and prevent dynamic instability if a super-adiabatic temperature gradient exists. Thus, from the super-adiabaticity, our results indicate a water concentration (or the oxygen to hydrogen ratio) of about 4.9 times solar with a possible range of 1.5 ~ 8.3 times solar in Jupiter's equatorial region., Comment: 46 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Icraus

This PhD thesis elaborates on a problem raised by Schmidt in 1967. We study Diophantine exponents for subspaces, which generalize the irrationality measure for real numbers. We construct subspaces with prescribed exponents and demonstrate properties of algebraic independence among certain exponents., Comment: PhD thesis, in French

We report the discovery and characterization of three giant exoplanets orbiting solar-analog stars, detected by the \tess space mission and confirmed through ground-based photometry and radial velocity (RV) measurements taken at La Silla observatory with \textit{FEROS}. TOI-2373\,b is a warm Jupiter orbiting its host star every $\sim$ 13.3 days, and is one of the two most massive known exoplanet with a precisely determined mass and radius around a star similar to the Sun, with an estimated mass of m$_p$ = $9.3^{+0.2}_{-0.2}\,M_{\mathrm{jup}}$, and a radius of $r_p$ = $0.93^{+0.2}_{-0.2}\,R_{\mathrm{jup}}$. With a mean density of $\rho = 14.4^{+0.9}_{-1.0}\,\mathrm{g\,cm}^{-3}$, TOI-2373\,b is among the densest planets discovered so far. TOI-2416\,b orbits its host star on a moderately eccentric orbit with a period of $\sim$ 8.3 days and an eccentricity of $e$ = $0.32^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$. TOI-2416\,b is more massive than Jupiter with $m_p$ = 3.0$^{+0.10}_{-0.09}\,M_{\mathrm{jup}}$, however is significantly smaller with a radius of $r_p$ = $0.88^{+0.02}_{-0.02},R_{\mathrm{jup}}$, leading to a high mean density of $\rho = 5.4^{+0.3}_{-0.3}\,\mathrm{g\,cm}^{-3}$. TOI-2524\,b is a warm Jupiter near the hot Jupiter transition region, orbiting its star every $\sim$ 7.2 days on a circular orbit. It is less massive than Jupiter with a mass of $m_p$ = $0.64^{+0.04}_{-0.04}\,M_{\mathrm{jup}}$, and is consistent with an inflated radius of $r_p$ = $1.00^{+0.02}_{-0.03}\,R_{\mathrm{jup}}$, leading to a low mean density of $\rho = 0.79^{+0.08}_{-0.08}\,\mathrm{g\,cm}^{-3}$. The newly discovered exoplanets TOI-2373\,b, TOI-2416\,b, and TOI-2524\,b have estimated equilibrium temperatures of $860^{+10}_{-10}$ K, $1080^{+10}_{-10}$ K, and $1100^{+20}_{-20}$ K, respectively, placing them in the sparsely populated transition zone between hot and warm Jupiters.

Magnetars are neutron stars with extremely high magnetic fields that exhibit various X-ray phenomena such as sporadic sub-second bursts, long-term persistent flux enhancements, and variable rates of rotation period change. In 2020, a fast radio burst (FRB), akin to cosmological millisecond-duration radio bursts, was detected from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154, confirming the long-suspected association between some FRBs and magnetars. However, the mechanism for FRB generation in magnetars remains unclear. Here we report the X-ray discovery of an unprecedented double glitch in SGR 1935+2154 within a time interval of approximately nine hours, bracketing an FRB that occurred on October 14, 2022. Each glitch involved a significant increase in the magnetar's spin frequency, being among the largest abrupt changes in neutron star rotation ever observed. Between the glitches, the magnetar exhibited a rapid spin-down phase, accompanied by a profound increase and subsequent decline in its persistent X-ray emission and burst rate. We postulate that a strong, ephemeral, magnetospheric wind provides the torque that rapidly slows the star's rotation. The trigger for the first glitch couples the star's crust to its magnetosphere, enhances the various X-ray signals, and spawns the wind that alters magnetospheric conditions that might produce the FRB., Comment: 46 pages, 9figures, 4 tables, a submitted version of Nature 626, 500 (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-07012-5)

Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a conjugacy class of involutions in a group $G$. We study the graph $\Gamma(\mathcal{C})$ whose vertices are elements of $\mathcal{C}$ with $g,h\in\mathcal{C}$ connected by an edge if and only if $gh\in\mathcal{C}$. For $t\in \mathcal{C}$, we define the component group of $t$ to be the subgroup of $G$ generated by all vertices in $\Gamma(\mathcal{C})$ that lie in the connected component of the graph that contains $t$. We classify the component groups of all involutions in simple groups of Lie type over a field of characteristic $2$. We use this classification to partially classify the transitive binary actions of the simple groups of Lie type over a field of characteristic $2$ for which a point stabilizer has even order. The classification is complete unless the simple group in question is a symplectic or unitary group.

Variations with oxygen concentration of titanium lattice parameters are obtained by means of ab initio calculations, considering the impact of oxygen ordering. The quasiharmonic approximation is used to take into account the thermal expansion at finite temperature. Results show that lattice parameters depend mainly on oxygen concentration and, to a lesser extent, on the ordering state. Knowing these theoretical variations, one can get insights into the composition of ordered compounds existing in Ti-O binary alloys from their lattice mismatch measured experimentally by x-ray diffraction. The approach is used in a binary alloy containing 6000 ppm in weight of oxygen. It is concluded that the ordered compounds, which are observed after a recrystallization heat treatment, do not have the expected Ti6O stoichiometry but have a composition close to the nominal concentration. Oxygen ordering proceeds, therefore, before oxygen partitioning in titanium.

Tidal interactions between moons and planets can have major effects on the orbits, spins, and thermal evolution of the moons. In the Saturn system, tidal dissipation in the planet transfers angular momentum from Saturn to the moons, causing them to migrate outwards. The rate of migration is determined by the mechanism of dissipation within the planet, which is closely tied to the planet's uncertain structure. We review current knowledge of giant planet internal structure and evolution, which has improved thanks to data from the \textit{Juno} and \textit{Cassini} missions. We discuss general principles of tidal dissipation, describing both equilibrium and dynamical tides, and how dissipation can occur in a solid core or a fluid envelope. Finally, we discuss the possibility of resonance locking, whereby a moon can lock into resonance with a planetary oscillation mode, producing enhanced tidal migration relative to classical theories, and possibly explaining recent measurements of moon migration rates., Comment: Accepted for Space Science Reviews. Chapter in the book based on the ISSI workshop "New Vision of the Saturnian System in the Context of a Highly Dissipative Saturn" (9-13 May 2022)

We continue our investigation of binary actions of simple groups. In this paper, we demonstrate a connection between the graph $\Gamma(\mathcal{C})$ based on the conjugacy class $\mathcal{C}$ of the group $G$, which was introduced in our previous work, and the notion of a strongly embedded subgroup of $G$. We exploit this connection to prove a result concerning the binary actions of finite simple groups that contain a single conjugacy class of involutions., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2303.06003

In this article we consider a Bloch electron in a crystal lattice subject to slowy varying external magnetic fields. We offer an explanation of de Haas-van Alfven oscillations in terms of energy levels of approximate eigenfunctions for the magnetic Schrodinger operator by using a gaussian beam construction for a small enough magnetic field., Comment: 17 pages. Self-contained version with greater detail

We present the discovery and characterization of two warm mini-Neptunes transiting the K3V star TOI-815 in a K-M binary system. Analysis of the spectra and rotation period reveal it to be a young star with an age of $200^{+400}_{-200}$Myr. TOI-815b has a 11.2-day period and a radius of 2.94$\pm$0.05$\it{R_{\rm\mathrm{\oplus}}}$ with transits observed by TESS, CHEOPS, ASTEP, and LCOGT. The outer planet, TOI-815c, has a radius of 2.62$\pm$0.10$\it{R_{\rm\mathrm{\oplus}}}$, based on observations of three non-consecutive transits with TESS, while targeted CHEOPS photometry and radial velocity follow-up with ESPRESSO were required to confirm the 35-day period. ESPRESSO confirmed the planetary nature of both planets and measured masses of 7.6$\pm$1.5 $\it{M_{\rm \mathrm{\oplus}}}$ ($\rho_\mathrm{P}$=1.64$^{+0.33}_{-0.31}$gcm$^{-3}$) and 23.5$\pm$2.4$\it{M_{\rm\mathrm{\oplus}}}$ ($\rho_\mathrm{P}$=7.2$^{+1.1}_{-1.0}$gcm$^{-3}$) respectively. Thus, the planets have very different masses, unlike the usual similarity of masses in compact multi-planet systems. Moreover, our statistical analysis of mini-Neptunes orbiting FGK stars suggests that weakly irradiated planets tend to have higher bulk densities compared to those suffering strong irradiation. This could be ascribed to their cooler atmospheres, which are more compressed and denser. Internal structure modeling of TOI-815b suggests it likely has a H-He atmosphere constituting a few percent of the total planet mass, or higher if the planet is assumed to have no water. In contrast, the measured mass and radius of TOI-815c can be explained without invoking any atmosphere, challenging planetary formation theories. Finally, we infer from our measurements that the star is viewed close to pole-on, which implies a spin-orbit misalignment at the 3$\sigma$ level., Comment: 24 pages, 27 figures, 6 tables

TOI-1227 b is an 11 Myr old validated transiting planet in the middle of its contraction phase, with a current radius of 0.85 R$_J$. It orbits a low-mass pre-main sequence star (0.170 M$_\odot$, 0.56 R$_\odot$) every 27.4 days. The magnetic activity of its young host star induces radial velocity jitter and prevents good measurements of the planetary mass. We gathered additional transit observations of TOI-1227 b with space- and ground-based telescopes, and we detected highly significant transit-timing variations (TTVs). Their amplitude is about 40 minutes and their dominant timescale is longer than 3.7 years. Their most probable origin is dynamical interactions with additional planets in the system. We modeled the TTVs with inner and outer perturbers near first and second order resonances; several orbital configurations provide an acceptable fit. More data are needed to determine the actual orbital configuration and eventually measure the planetary masses. These TTVs and an updated transit chromaticity analysis reinforce the evidence that TOI-1227 b is a planet., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present three-dimensional (3D) maps of Jupiter's atmospheric circulation at cloud-top level from Doppler-imaging data obtained in the visible domain with JIVE, the second node of the JOVIAL network, which is mounted on the Dunn Solar Telescope at Sunspot, New Mexico. We report on 12 nights of observations between May 4 and May 30, 2018, representing a total of about 80 hours. Firstly, the average zonal wind profile derived from our data is compatible with that derived from cloud-tracking measurements performed on Hubble Space Telescope images obtained in April 2018 from the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. Secondly, we present the first ever two-dimensional maps of Jupiter's atmospheric circulation from Doppler measurements. The zonal velocity map highlights well-known atmospheric features, such as the equatorial hot spots and the Great Red Spot (GRS). In addition to zonal winds, we derive meridional and vertical velocity fields from the Doppler data. The motions attributed to vertical flows are mainly located at the boundary between the equatorial belts and tropical zones, which could indicate active motion in theses regions. Qualitatively, these results compare well to recent Juno data that have unveiled the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's wind field. To the contrary, the motions attributed to meridional circulation are very different from what is obtained by cloud tracking, except at the GRS. Because of limitations with data resolution and processing techniques, we acknowledge that our measurement of vertical or meridional flows of Jupiter are still to be confirmed.