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We use data from the applications North Carolina public school districts and charter schools submitted for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) to investigate the sense that educational leaders made of the pandemic as it unfolded. LEAs understood the pandemic as a multifaceted problem. Nearly all applications addressed four problems: (1) public health, (2) academics and learning loss, (3) student and community well-being, and (4) instructional access. However, we document considerable variation in problem emphasis over time, across LEAs, and across organizational sector. The pandemic was not a single organizational problem, but many simultaneous problems posed in varying and shifting combinations. We argue this multi-faceted organizational view should be a starting point for assessments of LEAs' pandemic response.

This paper defines student development education as a concept which refers to professional roles of administrators, instructors, and counselors in a competency-based learning system designed to enable students to become more of what they want to be. A student development model is delineated whose essential components include student goal setting in collaboration with institutional professionals, assessment of position relative to goals, use of change strategies (instruction, consultation, milieu management) to bring about development toward goals, and evaluation to determine the extent to which goals are met and whether new goals are necessary. A taxonomy of behaviors of the well-developed student is outlined, based on three categories of student development needs: the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, of self-determination, and of the ability to control one's environment. The specific professional role responsibilities of administrators, instructors, and counselors in relation to each behavior are illustrated, and the implications and applications of the student development concept for each of these professionals are reviewed. Implementation of student development education requires review and possible revision of course objectives, program objectives, and professional objectives, as well as competency development of professionals. Possible strategies to be used in initiating these changes are suggested. (JDS)

This study uses a concurrent embedded mixed-methods design to assess the impact of additional funding on student outcomes in a large, urban school district in the Southeastern United States. The district implemented student-based budgeting (SBB), which allocates dollars to schools based on student characteristics using a weighted student funding (WSF) formula and provides flexibility to principals to allocate those dollars under site-based budgeting. Using simulated instruments in a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the impact of additional funding on student outcomes provided by WSF. Student test scores in math and ELA increased by 0.14 and 0.12 standard deviations, respectively. Our qualitative analysis suggests that the flexibility given to principals was a key mechanism that improved student outcomes.

India has made rapid progress towards the universalization of school education, hand in hand with a decline in child labour. Despite progress, child labour persists in the country, just as school attendance and completion rates reveal gaps in educational attainment. This report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and practitioners build an improved understanding of how to?strengthen the role of education in the elimination of child labour across India. Drawing on quantitative secondary data analysis and qualitative primary data analysis, it offers an accessible and rigorous overview of recent patterns in child labour in India and their linkages with children's school participation. The report also explores children's perspectives of their labour and schooling experiences, including in migration contexts as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures. The report concludes with programmatic and research recommendations for further action.

Radiogenic neutrons emitted by detector materials are one of the most challenging backgrounds for the direct search of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To mitigate this background, the XENONnT experiment is equipped with a novel gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector, which encloses the xenon dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The neutron veto (NV) tags neutrons via their capture on gadolinium or hydrogen, which release $\gamma$-rays that are subsequently detected as Cherenkov light. In this work, we present the key features and the first results of the XENONnT NV when operated with demineralized water in the initial phase of the experiment. Its efficiency for detecting neutrons is $(82\pm 1)\,\%$, the highest neutron detection efficiency achieved in a water Cherenkov detector. This enables a high efficiency of $(53\pm 3)\,\%$ for the tagging of WIMP-like neutron signals, inside a tagging time window of $250\,\mathrm{\mu s}$ between TPC and NV, leading to a livetime loss of $1.6\,\%$ during the first science run of XENONnT.

We analyzed the 7.92$\times 10^{11}$ cosmic-ray-induced muon events collected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory from May 13, 2011, when the fully constructed experiment started to take data, to May 12, 2023. This dataset provides an up-to-date cosmic-ray arrival direction distribution in the Southern Hemisphere with unprecedented statistical accuracy covering more than a full period length of a solar cycle. Improvements in Monte Carlo event simulation and better handling of year-to-year differences in data processing significantly reduce systematic uncertainties below the level of statistical fluctuations compared to the previously published results. We confirm the observation of a change in the angular structure of the cosmic-ray anisotropy between 10 TeV and 1 PeV, more specifically in the 100-300 TeV energy range.

We report on a search for millicharged particles (mCPs) produced in cosmic ray proton atmospheric interactions using data collected during the first science run of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. The mCPs produced by two processes -- meson decay and proton bremsstrahlung -- are considered in this study. This search utilized a novel signature unique to liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chambers (TPCs), allowing sensitivity to mCPs with masses ranging from 10 to 1000 MeV/c$^2$ and fractional charges between 0.001 and 0.02 of the electron charge e. With an exposure of 60 live days and a 5.5 tonne fiducial mass, we observed no significant excess over background. This represents the first experimental search for atmospheric mCPs and the first search for mCPs using an underground LXe experiment.

A chemical characterization of the Galactic Center is essential for understanding its formation and structural evolution. Trends of alpha-elements, such as Mg, Si, and Ca, serve as powerful diagnostic tools, offering insights into star-formation rates and gas-infall history. However, high extinction has previously hindered such studies. In this study, we present a detailed chemical abundance analysis of M giants in the Milky Way's Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC), focusing on alpha-element trends with metallicity. High-resolution, near-infrared spectra were obtained using the IGRINS spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope for nine M giants. Careful selection of spectral lines, based on a solar-neighborhood control sample of 50 M giants, was implemented to minimize systematic uncertainties. Our findings show enhanced alpha-element abundances in the predominantly metal-rich NSC stars, consistent with trends in the inner bulge. The NSC stars follow the high-[alpha/Fe] envelope seen in the solar vicinity's metal-rich population, indicating a high star-formation rate. The alpha-element trends decrease with increasing metallicity, also at the highest metallicities. Our results suggest the NSC population likely shares a similar evolutionary history with the inner bulge, challenging the idea of a recent dominant star formation burst. This connection between the NSC and the inner-disk sequence suggests that the chemical properties of extragalactic NSCs of Milky Way type galaxies could serve as a proxy for understanding the host galaxies' evolutionary processes., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

The motion of a quantum system subjected to an external force often defeats our classical intuition. A celebrated example is the dynamics of a single particle in a periodic potential, which undergoes Bloch oscillations under the action of a constant force. Surprisingly, Bloch-like oscillations can also occur in one-dimensional quantum fluids without requiring the presence of a lattice. The intriguing generalization of Bloch oscillations to a weakly-bounded ensemble of interacting particles has been so far limited to the experimental study of the two-particle case, where the observed period is halved compared to the single-particle case. In this work, we observe the oscillations of the position of a mesoscopic solitonic wave packet, consisting of approximately 1000 atoms in a one-dimensional Bose gas when subjected to a constant uniform force and in the absence of a lattice potential. The oscillation period scales inversely with the atom number, thus revealing its collective nature. We demonstrate the pivotal role of the phase coherence of the quantum bath in which the wave packet moves and investigate the underlying topology of the associated superfluid currents. Our measurements highlight the periodicity of the dispersion relation of collective excitations in one-dimensional quantum systems. We anticipate that our observation of such a macroscopic quantum phenomenon will inspire further studies on the crossover between classical and quantum laws of motion, such as exploring the role of dissipation, similarly to the textbook case of macroscopic quantum tunneling in Josephson physics.

Using the time-of-flight technique, we measured the beta-delayed neutron emission of $^{132}$Cd. From our large-scale shell model (LSSM) calculation using the N$^3$LO interaction [Z.Y. Xu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 022501 (2023)], we suggest the decay is dominated by the transformation of a neutron in the $g_{7/2}$ orbital, deep below the Fermi surface, into a proton in the $g_{9/2}$ orbital. We compare the beta-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of nuclei with $Z<50$ and $N\geq82$ obtained with our LSSM with those of leading "global" models. Our calculations match known half-lives and neutron branching ratios well and suggest that current leading models overestimate the yet-to-be-measured half-lives. Our model, backed by the $^{132}$Cd decay data presented here, offers robust predictive power for nuclei of astrophysical interest such as $r$-process waiting points., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

The neutral sodium resonance doublet (Na i D) has been detected in the upper atmosphere of several close-in gas giants, through high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. We aim to investigate whether its variability is linked to the planets' properties, the data quality, or the accuracy of the system parameters used. Using the public code SLOPpy, we extracted the transmission spectrum in the Na i D region of ten gas giants for which a large number of HARPS-N observations are available. We modelled the absorption signals found, performing an MCMC analysis, and converted the measured absorption depth to the corresponding atmospheric height over which most sodium absorption occurs. While two targets (GJ 436 b and KELT-7 b) show no Na i D feature, we found variability in the transmission spectrum of the other targets. Three of them (HD 209458 b, WASP-80 b, and WASP-127 b) present absorption on only some nights, while in the other five targets (HD 189733 b, KELT-9 b, KELT-20 b, WASP-69 b, and WASP-76 b), a significant absorption signal is present on most of the nights analysed. Except for WASP-69 b, the measured absorption depths lead to a ratio of the two Na I D depths that is compatible with or slightly larger than one. As was expected from literature, the relative atmospheric height follows an empirical exponential trend as a function of a scaled product of the planet's equilibrium temperature and surface gravity. We confirm the sodium detection on HD 189733 b, KELT-9 b, KELT-20 b, WASP-69 b, and WASP-76 b. The signal detected in WASP-127 b requires further observations for definitive confirmation. We exclude a planetary origin for the signals found on HD 209458 b and WASP-80 b. The sodium absorption variability does not appear to be related to planetary properties, but rather to data quality, sub-optimal data treatment, or stellar activity., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics on 26 November 2024. Additional material (Figures B.1-B.3 and Tables B.1-B.9) are available on Zenodo

We explore the radio emission of spectroscopically confirmed, X-ray weak, Broad Line AGN (BLAGN, or type 1) selected with JWST in the GOODS-N field, one of the fields with the best combination of deep radio observations and statistics of JWST-selected BLAGN. We use deep radio data at different frequencies (144\,MHz, 1.5\,GHz, 3\,GHz, 5.5\,GHz, 10\,GHz), and we find that none of the 22 sources investigated is detected at any of the aforementioned frequencies. Similarly, the radio stacking analysis does not reveal any detection down to an rms of $\sim 0.2\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$, corresponding to a $3\sigma$ upper limit at rest frame 5 GHz of $L_{5GHz}=2\times10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at the mean redshift of the sample $z\sim 5.2$. We compared this and individual sources upper limits with expected radio luminosities estimated assuming different AGN scaling relations. For most of the sources the radio luminosity upper limits are still compatible with expectations for radio-quiet (RQ) AGN; nevertheless, the more stringent stacking upper limits and the fact that no detection is found would suggest that JWST-selected BLAGN are weaker than standard AGN even at radio frequencies. We discuss some scenarios that could explain the possible radio weakness, such as free-free absorption from a dense medium, or the lack of either magnetic field or a corona, possibly as a consequence of super-Eddington accretion. These scenarios would also explain the observed X-ray weakness. We also conclude that $\sim$1 dex more sensitive radio observations are needed to better constrain the level of radio emission (or lack thereof) for the bulk of these sources. The Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) will likely play a crucial role in assessing the properties of this AGN population., Comment: Submitted to A&A, comments are welcome

In this work, we develop a symmetry-based classification of Chern phases in honeycomb photonic crystals, considering arbitrary nonreciprocal couplings compatible with energy conservation. Our analysis focuses on crystals formed through nonreciprocal perturbations of photonic graphene. These perturbations, which can have arbitrary spatial variations, are generally described by scalar and vector fields. Using a tight-binding model, we consider the most general nonreciprocal interactions, including gyromagnetic, pseudo-Tellegen, and moving medium responses, and examine how the corresponding nonreciprocal fields influence the crystal's topology. Our findings reveal that nonreciprocal interactions alone are insufficient to induce a topologically nontrivial phase. Instead, a nontrivial p6m component in the nonreciprocal fields is required to open a bandgap and achieve a non-zero Chern number. These results provide a symmetry-based roadmap for engineering photonic topological phases via nonreciprocal perturbations of photonic graphene, offering practical guidelines for designing topological phases in graphene-like photonic crystals., Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures

The BL Lac object 3C 371 is one of the targets that are regularly monitored by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration to study blazar variability on both short and long timescales. We aim to evaluate the long-term multiwavelength (MWL) behaviour of 3C 371, comparing it with the results derived for its optical emission in our previous study. For this, we make use of the multi-band campaigns organized by the WEBT Collaboration in optical and radio between January 2018 and December 2020, and of public data from Swift and Fermi satellites and the MOJAVE Very Large Interferometry programme. We evaluate the variability shown by the source in each band with the amplitude variability quantification, as well as possible interband correlation using the z-Discrete Correlation Function. We also present a deep analysis of the optical-UV, X-ray and $\gamma$-ray spectral variability. With the MOJAVE data we perform a kinematics analysis, looking for components propagating along the jet, calculating its kinematics parameters. This set of parameters is later used for the interpretation of the source MWL behaviour, modelling the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with theoretical blazar emission scenarios., Comment: Accepted in A&A, 22 pages, 15 figures

Many physical models contain nuisance parameters that quantify unknown and irrelevant properties of an experiment. Typically, these cannot be measured except by fitting the models to the data from the experiment, requiring simultaneous measurement of interesting parameters that are our target of inference and nuisance terms that are not directly of interest. A recent example of this is fitting Effective Field Theory (EFT) models to large-scale structure (LSS) data to make cosmological inferences. These models have a large number of nuisance parameters that are typically correlated with cosmological parameters in the posterior, leading to strong dependence on the nuisance parameter priors. We introduce a reparametrization method that leverages Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) to decorrelate nuisance parameters from the parameters of interest in the likelihood, even in the presence of non-linear relationships. This reparametrization forms a natural basis within which to define priors that are independent between nuisance and target parameters: the separation means that the marginal posterior for cosmological parameters does not depend on simple priors placed on nuisance terms. In application to EFT models using LSS data, we demonstrate that the proposed approach leads to robust cosmological inference., Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables

Electrons trapped on the surface of cryogenic substrates (liquid helium, solid neon or hydrogen) are an emerging platform for quantum information processing made attractive by the inherent purity of the electron environment, the scalability of trapping devices and the predicted long lifetime of electron spin states. Here we demonstrate the spatial control and detection of single electrons above the surface of liquid helium at temperatures above 1 K. A superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator is used to read out the charge state of an electron trap defined by gate electrodes beneath the helium surface. Dispersive frequency shifts are observed as the trap is loaded with electrons, from several tens down to single electrons. These frequency shifts are in good agreement with our theoretical model that treats each electron as a classical oscillator coupled to the cavity field. This sensitive charge readout scheme can aid efforts to develop large-scale quantum processors that require the high cooling powers available in cryostats operating above 1 K., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

The cross-correlation of cosmic voids with the lensing convergence ($\kappa$) map of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fluctuations provides a powerful tool to refine our understanding of the cosmological model. However, several studies have reported a moderate tension between the lensing imprint of cosmic voids on the observed CMB and the simulated $\mathrm{\Lambda}$CDM signal. To address this "lensing-is-low" tension and to obtain new, precise measurements, we exploit the large DESI Legacy Survey Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) dataset, covering approximately 19,500 $\deg^2$ of the sky and including about 10 million LRGs at $z < 1.05$. Our $\mathrm{\Lambda}$CDM template was created using the Buzzard mocks, which we specifically calibrated to match the clustering properties of the observed galaxy sample by exploiting more than one million DESI spectra. We identified our catalogs of 3D voids in the range $0.35 < z < 0.95$, dividing the sample into bins according to the redshift and $\lambda_\mathrm{v}$ values of the voids. We report a 14$\sigma$ detection of the lensing signal, with $A_\kappa = 1.016 \pm 0.054$, which increases to 17$\sigma$ when considering the void-in-void ($A_\kappa = 0.944 \pm 0.064$) and the void-in-cloud ($A_\kappa = 0.975 \pm 0.060$) populations individually, the highest detection significance for studies of this kind. We observe a full agreement between the observations and $\mathrm{\Lambda}$CDM predictions across all redshift bins, sky regions, and void populations considered. In addition to these findings, our analysis highlights the importance of matching sparseness and redshift error distributions between mocks and observations, as well as the role of $\lambda_\mathrm{v}$ in enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio., Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures

Dense neutrino gases can exhibit collective flavor instabilities, triggering large flavor conversions that are driven primarily by neutrino-neutrino refraction. One broadly distinguishes between fast instabilities that exist in the limit of vanishing neutrino masses, and slow ones, that require neutrino mass splittings. In a related series of papers, we have shown that fast instabilities result from the resonant growth of flavor waves, in the same way as turbulent electric fields in an unstable plasma. Here we extend this framework to slow instabilities, focusing on the simplest case of an infinitely homogeneous medium with axisymmetric neutrino distribution. The relevant length and time scales are defined by three parameters: the vacuum oscillation frequency $\omega_E=\delta m^2/2E$, the scale of neutrino-neutrino refraction energy $\mu=\sqrt{2}G_F(n_\nu+n_{\overline\nu})$, and the ratio between lepton and particle number $\epsilon=(n_\nu-n_{\overline\nu})/(n_\nu+n_{\overline\nu})$. We distinguish between two very different regimes: (i) For $\omega_E\ll \mu \epsilon^2$, instabilities occur at small spatial scales of order $(\mu\epsilon)^{-1}$ with a time scale of order $\epsilon \omega_E^{-1}$. This novel branch of slow instability arises from resonant interactions with neutrinos moving along the axis of symmetry. (ii) For $\mu \epsilon^2\ll \omega_E\ll \mu$, the instability is strongly non-resonant, with typical time and length scales of order $1/\sqrt{\omega_E \mu}$. Unstable modes interact with all neutrino directions at once, recovering the characteristic scaling of the traditional studies of slow instabilities. In the inner regions of supernovae and neutron-star mergers, the first regime may be more likely to appear, meaning that slow instabilities in this region may have an entirely different character than usually envisaged., Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures

Recent observations reveal a rapid dust build-up in high-redshift galaxies (z > 4), challenging current models of galaxy formation. While our understanding of dust production and destruction in the interstellar medium (ISM) is advancing, probing baryonic processes in the early Universe remains a complex task. We characterize the evolution of 98 z~5 star-forming galaxies observed as part of the ALPINE survey by constraining the physical processes underpinning the gas and dust production, consumption, and destruction in their ISM. We make use of chemical evolution models to simultaneously reproduce the observed dust and gas content. For each galaxy, we estimate initial gas mass, inflows and outflows, and efficiencies of dust growth and destruction. We test the models with the canonical Chabrier and top-heavy initial mass functions (IMFs), with the latter enabling rapid dust production on shorter timescales. Our models successfully reproduce gas and dust content in older galaxies (> 600 Myr) regardless of the IMF, with Type II SNe as the primary dust source and no dust growth in ISM with moderate inflow of primordial gas. In case of intermediate-age galaxies (300 - 600 Myr), we reproduce the gas and dust content through Type II SNe and dust growth in ISM, though we observe an over-prediction of dust mass in older galaxies, potentially indicating an unaccounted dust destruction mechanism and/or an overestimation of the observed dust masses. The number of young galaxies (< 300 Myr) reproduced, increases for models assuming top-heavy IMF but with maximal prescriptions of dust production. Galactic outflows are necessary to reproduce observed gas and dust masses. The Chabrier IMF models reproduce 65% of galaxies, while top-heavy IMF models improve this to 93%, easing tensions with observations. Upcoming JWST data will refine these models by resolving degeneracies in intrinsic galaxy properties., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Ultra-light axion-like particles (ALPs) can be a viable solution to the dark matter problem. The scalar field associated with ALPs, coupled to the electromagnetic field, acts as an active birefringent medium, altering the polarisation properties of light through which it propagates. In particular, oscillations of the axionic field induce monochromatic variations of the plane of linearly polarised radiation of astrophysical signals. The radio emission of millisecond pulsars provides an excellent tool to search for such manifestations, given their high fractional linear polarisation and negligible fluctuations of their polarisation properties. We have searched for the evidence of ALPs in the polarimetry measurements of pulsars collected and preprocessed for the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) campaign. Focusing on the twelve brightest sources in linear polarisation, we searched for an astrophysical signal from axions using both frequentist and Bayesian statistical frameworks. For the frequentist analysis, which uses Lomb-Scargle periodograms at its core, no statistically significant signal has been found. The model used for the Bayesian analysis has been adjusted to accommodate multiple deterministic systematics that may be present in the data. A statistically significant signal has been found in the dataset of multiple pulsars with common frequency between $10^{-8}$ Hz and $2\times10^{-8}$ Hz, which can most likely be explained by the residual Faraday rotation in the terrestrial ionosphere. Strong bounds on the coupling constant $g_{a\gamma}$, in the same ballpark as other searches, have been obtained in the mass range between $6\times10^{-24}$ eV and $5\times10^{-21}$ eV. We conclude by discussing problems that can limit the sensitivity of our search for ultra-light axions in the polarimetry data of pulsars, and possible ways to resolve them., Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures

We discuss a recently proposed interpretation of the signal detected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) as due to a relic stochastic background of primordial gravitons, produced in the context of the string cosmology pre-big bang scenario. We show that such interpretation cannot be reconciled with a phenomenologically viable minimal version of such scenario, while it can be allowed if one considers an equally viable but generalised, non-minimal version of pre-big bang evolution. Maintaining the $S$-duality symmetry throughout the high-curvature string phase is possible although somewhat disfavoured. The implications of this non-minimal scenario for the power spectrum of curvature perturbations are also briefly discussed., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures

Jupiter Trojans preserve primitive formation characteristics due to their collisionless stable orbits. Determination of their shapes and size-frequency distribution constrains the collisional evolution of their parent population which also originated the Kuiper Belt. We started a program to find precise sizes/shapes for Trojans, combining stellar occultations and DAMIT 3D shape models. We report results for Diomedes, by fitting its dimensionless 3D model to 3 chords of a stellar occultation observed in 2020, using iterative $\chi^{2}$ procedures. The pole coordinates, rotation period, volume-equivalent radius and geometric albedo were: $\lambda$ = 153.73$^{o}$ $\pm$ 2.5$^{o}$, $\beta$ = 12.69$^{o}$ $\pm$ 2.6$^{o}$, $P$ = 24.4984 $\pm$ 0.0002 h, $R_{eq}$ = 59.4 $\pm$ 0.3 km and $p_{V}$ = 0.030 $\pm$ 0.004. A precise position was obtained too., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables

We determine the nucleon axial, scalar and tensor charges and the nucleon $\sigma$-terms using twisted mass fermions. We employ three ensembles with approximately equal physical volume of about 5.5~fm, three values of the lattice spacing, approximately 0.06~fm, 0.07~fm and 0.08~fm, and with the mass of the degenerate up and down, strange and charm quarks tuned to approximately their physical values. We compute both isovector and isoscalar charges and $\sigma$-terms and their flavor decomposition including the disconnected contributions. We use the Akaike Information Criterion to evaluate systematic errors due to excited states and the continuum extrapolation. For the nucleon isovector axial charge we find $g_A^{u-d}=1.250(24)$, in agreement with the experimental value. Moreover, we extract the nucleon $\sigma$-terms and find for the light quark content $\sigma_{\pi N}=41.9(8.1)$~MeV and for the strange $\sigma_{s}=30(17)$~MeV., Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures

Results of research are presented concerning operative modes of a high-voltage (relativistic) pulsed magnetron for the 8 mm wavelength range. Technical solutions are proposed for improving the output system of the device, such as to increase the efficiency of power extraction from the field-particle interaction space. The stability of the magnetron operation has been increased, enhanced quantitative indices of the output power to 381 kW in each of the two linear polarizations. And a stabilized frequency spectrum from 35.7 to 40 GHz of the EHF radiation generated., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures

The neutron capture cross-section for the $^{181}$Ta(n,$\gamma$)$^{182}$Ta reaction has been experimentally measured at the neutron energies 0.53 and 1.05 MeV using off-line $\gamma$-ray spectrometry. $^{115}$In(n,n'$\gamma$)$^{115m}$In is used as a reference monitor reaction cross-section. The neutron was produced via the $^{7}$Li(p,n)$^{7}$Be reaction. The present study measures the cross-sections with their uncertainties and correlation matrix. The self-attenuation process, $\gamma$-ray correction factor, and low background neutron energy contribution have been calculated. The measured neutron spectrum averaged cross-sections of $^{181}$Ta(n,$\gamma$)$^{182}$Ta are discussed and compared with the existing data from the EXFOR database and also with the ENDF/B-VIII.0, TENDL-2019, JENDL-5, JEFF-3.3 evaluated data libraries.

The design of fast reactors burning MOX fuels requires accurate capture and fission cross sections. For the particular case of neutron capture on 242Pu, the NEA recommends that an accuracy of 8-12% should be achieved in the fast energy region (2 keV-500 keV) compared to their estimation of 35% for the current uncertainty. Integral irradiation experiments suggest that the evaluated cross section of the JEFF-3.1 library overestimates the 242Pu(n,{\gamma}) cross section by 14% in the range between 1 keV and 1 MeV. In addition, the last measurement at LANSCE reported a systematic reduction of 20-30% in the 1-40 keV range relative to the evaluated libraries and previous data sets. In the present work this cross section has been determined up to 600 keV in order to solve the mentioned discrepancies. A 242Pu target of 95(4) mg enriched to 99.959% was irradiated at the n TOF-EAR1 facility at CERN. The capture cross section of 242Pu has been obtained between 1 and 600 keV with a systematic uncertainty (dominated by background subtraction) between 8 and 12%, reducing the current uncertainties of 35% and achieving the accuracy requested by the NEA in a large energy range. The shape of the cross section has been analyzed in terms of average resonance parameters using the FITACS code as implemented in SAMMY, yielding results compatible with our recent analysis of the resolved resonance region.The results are in good agreement with the data of Wisshak and K\"appeler and on average 10-14% below JEFF-3.2 from 1 to 250 keV, which helps to achieve consistency between integral experiments and cross section data. At higher energies our results show a reasonable agreement within uncertainties with both ENDF/B-VII.1 and JEFF-3.2. Our results indicate that the last experiment from DANCE underestimates the capture cross section of 242Pu by as much as 40% above a few keV., Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

Hybrid quantum systems consisting of a collection of N spin-1/2 particles uniformly interacting with an electromagnetic field, such as one confined in a cavity, are important for the development of quantum information processors and will be useful for metrology, as well as tests of collective behavior. Such systems are often modeled by the Tavis-Cummings model and having an accurate understanding of the thermal behaviors of this system is needed to understand the behavior of them in realistic environments. We quantitatively show in this work that the Dicke subspace approximation is at times invoked too readily, in specific we show that there is a temperature above which the degeneracies in the system become dominant and the Dicke subspace is minimally populated. This transition occurs at a lower temperature than priorly considered. When in such a temperature regime, the key constants of the motion are the total excitation count between the spin system and cavity and the collective angular momentum of the spin system. These enable perturbative expansions for thermal properties in terms of the energy shifts of dressed states, called Lamb shifts herein. These enable efficient numeric methods for obtaining certain parameters that scale as $O(\sqrt{N})$, and is thus highly efficient. These provide methods for approximating, and bounding, properties of these systems as well as characterizing the dominant population regions, including under perturbative noise. In the regime of stronger spin-spin coupling the perturbations outweigh the expansion series terms and inefficient methods likely are needed to be employed, removing the computational efficiency of simulating such systems. The results in this work can also be used for related systems such as coupled-cavity arrays, cavity mediated coupling of collective spin ensembles, and collective spin systems., Comment: 14 + 11 pages, 10 figures

The widespread adoption of smart meters for monitoring energy consumption has generated vast quantities of high-resolution time series data which remains underutilised. While clustering has emerged as a fundamental tool for mining smart meter time series (SMTS) data, selecting appropriate clustering methods remains challenging despite numerous comparative studies. These studies often rely on problematic methodologies and consider a limited scope of methods, frequently overlooking compelling methods from the broader time series clustering literature. Consequently, they struggle to provide dependable guidance for practitioners designing their own clustering approaches. This paper presents a comprehensive comparative framework for SMTS clustering methods using expert-informed synthetic datasets that emphasise peak consumption behaviours as fundamental cluster concepts. Using a phased methodology, we first evaluated 31 distance measures and 8 representation methods using leave-one-out classification, then examined the better-suited methods in combination with 11 clustering algorithms. We further assessed the robustness of these combinations to systematic changes in key dataset properties that affect clustering performance on real-world datasets, including cluster balance, noise, and the presence of outliers. Our results revealed that methods accommodating local temporal shifts while maintaining amplitude sensitivity, particularly Dynamic Time Warping and $k$-sliding distance, consistently outperformed traditional approaches. Among other key findings, we identified that when combined with hierarchical clustering using Ward's linkage, these methods demonstrated consistent robustness across varying dataset characteristics without careful parameter tuning. These and other findings inform actionable recommendations for practitioners.

Cluster cosmology can benefit from combining multi-wavelength studies, which can benefit from characterising the correlation coefficients between different mass-observable relations. In this work, we aim to provide information on the scatter, the skewness, and the covariance of various mass-observable relations in galaxy clusters in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. This information will help future analyses to better tackle accretion histories and projection effects and model mass observable relations for cosmology studies.We identify galaxy clusters in Magneticum Box2b simulations with mass $M_{\rm 200c}>10^{14} {\rm M}_\odot$ at redshift $z=0.24$ and $z=0.90$. Our analysis includes \Euclid-derived properties such as richness, stellar mass, lensing mass, and concentration. Additionally, we investigate complementary multi-wavelength data, including X-ray luminosity, integrated Compton-$y$ parameter, gas mass, and temperature. The impact of projection effects on mass-observable residuals and correlations is then examined. At intermediate redshift ($z=0.24$), projection effects impact lensing concentration, richness, and gas mass the most in terms of scatter and skewness of log-residuals of scaling relations. The contribution of projection effects can be significant enough to boost a spurious hot- vs. cold-baryons correlation and consequently hide underlying correlations due to halo accretion histories. At high redshift ($z=0.9$), the richness has a much lower scatter (of log-residuals), and the quantity that is most impacted by projection effects is the lensing mass. Lensing concentration reconstruction, in particular, is affected by deviations of the reduced-shear profile shape from the one derived by an NFW profile rather than interlopers in the line of sight., Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, submitted to A&A, replied to referee comments

It has been previously demonstrated [Panov et al. Physics of Atomic Nuclei 84(2021)1037] that the TAIGA-HiSCORE Cherenkov array, originally built for cosmic ray physics and ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray astronomy studies using the extensive air shower method, can be used in conventional optical astronomy for wide-field searches for rare nanosecond optical transients of astrophysical origin. The FOV of the facility is on the scale of 1~ster, and it is capable of detecting very rare transients in the visible light range with fluxes greater than approximately 3000~quanta/m$^2$/10~ns (10~ns is the apparatus integration time) and pulse durations of 10\,ns. Among the potential sources of distant nanosecond optical transients are the evaporation of primary black holes, magnetic reconnection in the accretion disks of black holes, and signals from distant lasers of extraterrestrial civilizations. The paper describes the methods and results of the search for optical transients using the TAIGA-HiSCORE Cherenkov array from 2018 to 2022 (four winter seasons of data collection). No reliable astrophysical candidates for optical transients were found. We set an upper bound on the flux of the searched events as $\sim 1\times10^{-3}$\,events/ster/h., Comment: 20 figures, 46 pages

An amplitude analysis of $B^-\rightarrow D^- D^0 K_\mathrm{S}^0$ decays is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9\,\text{fb}^{-1}$, collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13$\mathrm{\,Te\kern -0.1em V}$. A resonant structure of spin-parity $0^+$ is observed in the $D^0 K_\mathrm{S}^0$ invariant-mass spectrum with a significance of $5.3\,\sigma$. The mass and width of the state, modeled with a Breit$-$Wigner lineshape, are determined to be $2883\pm11\pm6\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V\!/}c^2$ and $87_{-47}^{+22}\pm6\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V}$ respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. These properties and the quark content are consistent with those of the open-charm tetraquark state $T_{cs 0}^{*}(2870)^0$ observed previously in the $D^+ K^-$ final state of the $B^-\rightarrow D^- D^+ K^-$ decay. This result confirms the existence of the $T_{cs 0}^{*}(2870)^0$ state in a new decay mode. The $T_{cs1}^{*}(2900)^0$ state, reported in the $B^-\rightarrow D^- D^+ K^-$ decay, is also searched for in the $D^0 K_\mathrm{S}^0$ invariant-mass spectrum of the $B^- \rightarrow D^- D^0 K_\mathrm{S}^0$ decay, without finding evidence for it., Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and information, are available at https://lbfence.cern.ch/alcm/public/analysis/full-details/3162/ (LHCb public pages)

Reconstruction of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal has been a standard procedure in BAO analyses over the past decade and has helped to improve the BAO parameter precision by a factor of ~2 on average. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) BAO analysis for the first year (DR1) data uses the ``standard'' reconstruction framework, in which the displacement field is estimated from the observed density field by solving the linearized continuity equation in redshift space, and galaxy and random positions are shifted in order to partially remove nonlinearities. There are several approaches to solving for the displacement field in real survey data, including the multigrid (MG), iterative Fast Fourier Transform (iFFT), and iterative Fast Fourier Transform particle (iFFTP) algorithms. In this work, we analyze these algorithms and compare them with various metrics including two-point statistics and the displacement itself using realistic DESI mocks. We focus on three representative DESI samples, the emission line galaxies (ELG), quasars (QSO), and the bright galaxy sample (BGS), which cover the extreme redshifts and number densities, and potential wide-angle effects. We conclude that the MG and iFFT algorithms agree within 0.4% in post-reconstruction power spectrum on BAO scales with the RecSym convention, which does not remove large-scale redshift space distortions (RSDs), in all three tracers. The RecSym convention appears to be less sensitive to displacement errors than the RecIso convention, which attempts to remove large-scale RSDs. However, iFFTP deviates from the first two; thus, we recommend against using iFFTP without further development. In addition, we provide the optimal settings for reconstruction for five years of DESI observation. The analyses presented in this work pave the way for DESI DR1 analysis as well as future BAO analyses., Comment: 51 pages, 28 figures. Supporting publication of DESI 2024 III: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Galaxies and Quasars

Layered van der Waals tellurides reveal topologically non-trivial properties that give rise to unconventional magneto-transport phenomena. Additionally, their semimetallic character with high mobility makes them promising candidates for large magneto-thermoelectric effects. Remarkable studies on the very large and unconventional Nernst effect in WTe$_2$ have been reported, raising questions about whether this property is shared across the entire family of van der Waals tellurides. In this study, systematic measurements of the Nernst effect in telluride van der Waals Weyl semimetals are presented. Large linear Nernst coefficients in WTe$_2$ and MoTe$_2$ are identified, and moderate Nernst coefficients with non-linear behavior in magnetic fields are observed in W$_{0.65}$Mo$_{0.35}$Te$_2$, TaIrTe$_4$, and TaRhTe$_4$. Within this sample set, a correlation between the dominant linear-in-magnetic-field component of the Nernst coefficient and mobility is established, aligning with the established Nernst scaling framework, though with a different scaling factor compared to existing literature. This enhancement might be caused by the shared favorable electronic band structure of this family of materials. Conversely, the non-linear component of the Nernst effect in a magnetic field could not be correlated with mobility. This non-linear term is almost absent in the binary compounds, suggesting a multiband origin and strong compensation between electron-like and hole-like carriers. This comprehensive study highlights the potential of van der Waals tellurides for thermoelectric conversion.

The inclusive cross sections of prompt $J/\psi$ and $\psi(3686)$ production are measured at center-of-mass energies from 3.808 to 4.951 GeV. The dataset used is 22 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^{+}e^{-}$ annihilation data collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring. The results obtained are in agreement with the previous BESIII measurements of exclusive $J/\psi$ and $\psi(3686)$ production. The average values obtained for the cross sections measured in the center-of-mass energy ranges from 4.527 to 4.951 GeV for $J/\psi$ and from 4.843 to 4.951 GeV for $\psi(3686)$, where the impact of known resonances is negligible, are $14.0\pm1.7\pm3.1$ pb and $15.3\pm3.0$ pb, respectively. For $J/\psi$, the first and the second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. For $\psi(3686)$, the uncertainty is total. These values are useful for testing charmonium production models., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures

This work focuses on the ice features toward the binary protostellar system Ced 110 IRS 4A and 4B, and observed with JWST as part of the Early Release Science Ice Age collaboration. We aim to explore the JWST observations of the binary protostellar system Ced~110~IRS4A and IRS4B to unveil and quantify the ice inventories toward these sources. We compare the ice abundances with those found for the same molecular cloud. The analysis is performed by fitting or comparing laboratory infrared spectra of ices to the observations. Spectral fits are carried out with the ENIIGMA fitting tool that searches for the best fit. For Ced~110~IRS4B, we detected the major ice species H$_2$O, CO, CO$_2$ and NH$_3$. All species are found in a mixture except for CO and CO$_2$, which have both mixed and pure ice components. In the case of Ced~110~IRS4A, we detected the same major species as in Ced~110~IRS4B, as well as the following minor species CH$_4$, SO$_2$, CH$_3$OH, OCN$^-$, NH$_4^+$ and HCOOH. Tentative detection of N$_2$O ice (7.75~$\mu$m), forsterite dust (11.2~$\mu$m) and CH$_3^+$ gas emission (7.18~$\mu$m) in the primary source are also presented. Compared with the two lines of sight toward background stars in the Chameleon I molecular cloud, the protostar has similar ice abundances, except in the case of the ions that are higher in IRS4A. The clearest differences are the absence of the 7.2 and 7.4~$\mu$m absorption features due to HCOO$^-$ and icy complex organic molecules in IRS4A and evidence of thermal processing in both IRS4A and IRS4B as probed by the CO$_2$ ice features. We conclude that the binary protostellar system Ced~110~IRS4A and IRS4B has a large inventory of icy species. The similar ice abundances in comparison to the starless regions in the same molecular cloud suggest that the chemical conditions of the protostar were set at earlier stages in the molecular cloud., Comment: 33 pages, 19 Figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

KM3NeT/ORCA is an underwater neutrino telescope under construction in the Mediterranean Sea. Its primary scientific goal is to measure the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters and to determine the neutrino mass ordering. ORCA can constrain the oscillation parameters $\Delta m^{2}_{31}$ and $\theta_{23}$ by reconstructing the arrival direction and energy of multi-GeV neutrinos crossing the Earth. Searches for deviations from the Standard Model of particle physics in the forward scattering of neutrinos inside Earth matter, produced by Non-Standard Interactions, can be conducted by investigating distortions of the standard oscillation pattern of neutrinos of all flavours. This work reports on the results of the search for non-standard neutrino interactions using the first six detection units of ORCA and 433 kton-years of exposure. No significant deviation from standard interactions was found in a sample of 5828 events reconstructed in the 1 GeV$-$1 TeV energy range. The flavour structure of the non-standard coupling was constrained at 90\% confidence level to be $|\varepsilon_{\mu\tau} | \leq 5.4 \times 10^{-3}$, $|\varepsilon_{e\tau} | \leq 7.4 \times 10^{-2}$, $|\varepsilon_{e\mu} | \leq 5.6 \times 10^{-2}$ and $-0.015 \leq \varepsilon_{\tau\tau} - \varepsilon_{\mu\mu} \leq 0.017$. The results are comparable to the current most stringent limits placed on the parameters by other experiments.

Given a graph $G$ with vertex set $V(G)$, a mapping $h : V(G) \rightarrow \lbrace 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 \rbrace$ is called a quadruple Roman dominating function (4RDF) for $G$ if it holds the following. Every vertex $x$ such that $h(x)\in \{0,1,2, 3\}$ satisfies that $h(N[x]) = \sum_{v\in N[x]} h(v) \geq |\{y:y \in N(x) \; \text{and} \; h(y) \neq 0\}|+4$, where $N(x)$ and $N[x]$ stands for the open and closed neighborhood of $x$, respectively. The smallest possible weight $\sum_{x \in V(G)} h(x)$ among all possible 4RDFs $h$ for $G$ is the quadruple Roman domination number of $G$, denoted by $\gamma_{[4R]}(G)$. This work is focused on complexity aspects for the problem of computing the value of this parameter for several graph classes. Specifically, it is shown that the decision problem concerning $\gamma_{[4R]}(G)$ is NP-complete when restricted to star convex bipartite, comb convex bipartite, split and planar graphs. In contrast, it is also proved that such problem can be efficiently solved for threshold graphs where an exact solution is demonstrated, while for graphs having an efficient dominating set, tight upper and lower bounds in terms of the classical domination number are given. In addition, some approximation results to the problem are given. That is, we show that the problem cannot be approximated within $(1 - \epsilon) \ln |V|$ for any $\epsilon > 0$ unless $P=NP$. An approximation algorithm for it is proposed, and its APX-completeness proved, whether graphs of maximum degree four are considered. Finally, an integer linear programming formulation for our problem is presented., Comment: 14 pages

Challenging neutron-capture cross-section measurements of small cross sections and samples with a very limited number of atoms require high-flux time-of-flight facilities. In turn, such facilities need innovative detection setups that are fast, have low sensitivity to neutrons, can quickly recover from the so-called $\gamma$-flash, and offer the highest possible detection sensitivity. In this paper, we present several steps toward such advanced systems. Specifically, we describe the performance of a high-sensitivity experimental setup at CERN n\_TOF EAR2. It consists of nine sTED detector modules in a compact cylindrical configuration, two conventional used large-volume C$_{6}$D$_{6}$ detectors, and one LaCl$_{3}$(Ce) detector. The performance of these detection systems is compared using $^{93}$Nb($n$,$\gamma$) data. We also developed a detailed \textsc{Geant4} Monte Carlo model of the experimental EAR2 setup, which allows for a better understanding of the detector features, including their efficiency determination. This Monte Carlo model has been used for further optimization, thus leading to a new conceptual design of a $\gamma$ detector array, STAR, based on a deuterated-stilbene crystal array. Finally, the suitability of deuterated-stilbene crystals for the future STAR array is investigaged experimentally utilizing a small stilbene-d12 prototype. The results suggest a similar or superior performance of STAR with respect to other setups based on liquid-scintillators, and allow for additional features such as neutron-gamma discrimination and a higher level of customization capability.

Red Supergiants (RSGs) are cool, evolved massive stars in their final evolutionary stage before exploding as a supernova. However, the evolution and fate of the most luminous RSGs is uncertain. Observational evidence for luminous warm, post-RSG objects and the lack of luminous RSGs as supernova progenitors suggest a blueward evolution. In this work, we analyze WOH G64, considered since the 1980s as the most extreme RSG in the Large Magellanic Cloud in terms of its size, luminosity, and mass-loss rate. Time-series photometry over the last 30 years reveals a sudden, yet smooth change from semi-regular to irregular variability in 2014. Multi-epoch optical spectroscopy confirms the transition, as WOH~G64 now exhibits properties of a B[e] star in the optical, and warm-star features in the near-infrared. We discovered that WOH G64 is a rare, massive symbiotic system formed by a RSG, which transitioned to a Yellow Hypergiant, and a B-star companion. The dramatic transition can be explained by: a) binary interactions partially stripping the envelope, b) the return of WOH G64 to a quiescent state after an outstanding eruption exceeding 30 years, and c) the expulsion of its outer layers due to a pre-SN superwind phase, indicating its imminent explosion. WOH~G64 offers a unique opportunity to witness stellar evolution in real-time, providing crucial clues for the final phases of massive stars and their resulting supernovae., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to a high-impact journal. This paper is under press embargo, contact the corresponding author for details

Our study aims to elucidate both short-term and long-term variations in the light curve of the eclipsing system OGLE-LMC-ECL-14413, with a particular focus on the unusual reversals in eclipse depth. We aim to clarify the role of the accretion disk in these fluctuations, especially in long-cycle changes spanning hundreds of days. Additionally, we seek to determine the evolutionary stage of the system and gain insights into the internal structure of its stellar components. We analyzed photometric time series from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) project in the I and V bands, and from the MAssive Compact Halo Objects project in the BM and RM bands, covering a period of 30.85 years. Using light curve data from 27 epochs, we constructed models of the accretion disk. An optimized simplex algorithm was employed to solve the inverse problem, deriving the best-fit parameters for the stars, orbit, and disk. We also utilized the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics software to assess the evolutionary stage of the binary system, investigating the progenitors and potential future developments. We found an orbital period of 38.15917(54) d and a long-term cycle of approximately 780 d. Temperature, mass, radius, and surface gravity values were determined for both stars. The photometric orbital cycle and the long-term cycle are consistent with a disk containing variable physical properties, including two shock regions. The disk encircles the more massive star and the system brightness variations align with the long-term cycle at orbital phase 0.25. Our mass transfer rate calculations correspond to these brightness changes. \texttt{MESA} simulations indicate weak magnetic fields in the donor star's subsurface, which are insufficient to influence mass transfer rates significantly., Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures plus 3 figures in Zenodo. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics main journal

We study the electronic structure of bulk 1T-TaSe$_2$ in the charge density wave phase at low temperature. Our spatially and angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) data show insulating areas coexisting with metallic regions characterized by a chiral Fermi surface and moderately correlated quasiparticle bands. Additionally, high-resolution laser ARPES reveals variations in the metallic regions, with series of low-energy states, whose energy, number and dispersion can be explained by the formation of quantum well states of different thicknesses. Dynamical mean field theory calculations show that the observed rich behaviour can be rationalized by assuming occasional stacking faults of the charge density wave. Our results indicate that the diverse electronic phenomena reported previously in 1T-TaSe$_2$ are dictated by the stacking arrangement and the resulting quantum size effects while correlation effects play a secondary role., Comment: Main text including Supplemental Material

Context. Spectroscopic surveys like APOGEE, GALAH, and LAMOST have significantly advanced our understanding of the Milky Way by providing extensive stellar parameters and chemical abundances. Complementing these, photometric surveys with narrow/medium-band filters, such as the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS), offer the potential to estimate stellar parameters and abundances for a much larger number of stars. Aims. This work develops methodologies to extract stellar atmospheric parameters and selected chemical abundances from S-PLUS photometric data, which spans ~3000 square degrees using seven narrowband and five broadband filters. Methods. Using 66 S-PLUS colors, we estimated parameters based on training samples from LAMOST, APOGEE, and GALAH, applying Cost-Sensitive Neural Networks (NN) and Random Forests (RF). We tested for spurious correlations by including abundances not covered by the S-PLUS filters and evaluated NN and RF performance, with NN consistently outperforming RF. Including Teff and log g as features improved accuracy by ~3%. We retained only parameters with a goodness-of-fit above 50%. Results. Our approach provides reliable estimates of fundamental parameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) and abundance ratios such as [{\alpha}/Fe], [Al/Fe], [C/Fe], [Li/Fe], and [Mg/Fe] for ~5 million stars, with goodness-of-fit >60%. Additional ratios like [Cu/Fe], [O/Fe], and [Si/Fe] were derived but are less accurate. Validation using star clusters, TESS, and J-PLUS data confirmed the robustness of our methodology. Conclusions. By leveraging S-PLUS photometry and machine learning, we present a cost-effective alternative to high-resolution spectroscopy for deriving stellar parameters and abundances, enabling insights into Milky Way stellar populations and supporting future classification efforts., Comment: 23 pages, 14 Figures

The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is a partnership between the European Space Agency and Switzerland with important contributions by 10 additional ESA member States. It is the first S-class mission in the ESA Science Programme. CHEOPS has been flying on a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit since December 2019, collecting millions of short-exposure images in the visible domain to study exoplanet properties. A small yet increasing fraction of CHEOPS images show linear trails caused by resident space objects crossing the instrument field of view. To characterize the population of satellites and orbital debris observed by CHEOPS, all and every science images acquired over the past 3 years have been scanned with a Hough transform algorithm to identify the characteristic linear features that these objects cause on the images. Thousands of trails have been detected. This statistically significant sample shows interesting trends and features such as an increased occurrence rate over the past years as well as the fingerprint of the Starlink constellation. The cross-matching of individual trails with catalogued objects is underway as we aim to measure their distance at the time of observation and deduce the apparent magnitude of the detected objects. As space agencies and private companies are developing new space-based surveillance and tracking activities to catalogue and characterize the distribution of small debris, the CHEOPS experience is timely and relevant. With the first CHEOPS mission extension currently running until the end of 2026, and a possible second extension until the end of 2029, the longer time coverage will make our dataset even more valuable to the community, especially for characterizing objects with recurrent crossings., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Special Issue of the Journal of Space Safety Engineering

Purpose: Analyzing noninvasive longitudinal and multimodal data using artificial intelligence could potentially transform immunotherapy for cancer patients, paving the way towards precision medicine. Methods: In this study, we integrated pre- and on-treatment blood measurements, prescribed medications and CT-based volumes of organs from a large pan-cancer cohort of 694 patients treated with immunotherapy to predict short and long-term overall survival. By leveraging a combination of recent developments, different variants of our extended multimodal transformer-based simple temporal attention (MMTSimTA) network were trained end-to-end to predict mortality at three, six, nine and twelve months. These models were also compared to baseline methods incorporating intermediate and late fusion based integration methods. Results: The strongest prognostic performance was demonstrated using the extended transformer-based multimodal model with area under the curves (AUCs) of $0.84 \pm $0.04, $0.83 \pm $0.02, $0.82 \pm $0.02, $0.81 \pm $0.03 for 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month survival prediction, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that analyzing integrated early treatment data has potential for predicting survival of immunotherapy patients. Integrating complementary noninvasive modalities into a jointly trained model, using our extended transformer-based architecture, demonstrated an improved multimodal prognostic performance, especially in short term survival prediction.