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The MIRI-MRS instrument onboard JWST allows for probing the molecular gas composition at mid-IR wavelengths at unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. It is important to study these features in low-mass embedded protostellar systems since the formation of planets is thought to start in this phase. We present JWST/MIRI-MRS data of 18 low-mass protostellar systems in the JOYS program, focusing on gas-phase molecular lines in spectra extracted from the central protostellar positions. Besides H2, the most commonly detected molecules are H2O, CO2, CO, and OH. Other molecules such as 13CO2, C2H2, 13CCH, HCN, C4H2, CH4, and SO2 are detected only toward at most three of the sources. The JOYS data also yield the surprising detection of SiO gas toward two sources (BHR71-IRS1, L1448-mm) and for the first time CS and NH3 at mid-IR wavelengths toward a low-mass protostar (B1-c). The temperatures derived for the majority of the molecules are 100-300 K, much lower than what is typically derived toward more evolved Class II sources (>500 K). Toward three sources (e.g., TMC1-W), hot (~1000 K) H2O is detected, indicative of the presence of hot molecular gas in the embedded disks, but such warm emission from other molecules is absent. The agreement in abundance ratios with respect to H2O between ice and gas point toward ice sublimation in a hot core for a few sources (e.g., B1-c) whereas their disagreement and velocity offsets hint at high-temperature (shocked) conditions toward other sources (e.g., L1448-mm, BHR71-IRS1). The typical temperatures of the gas-phase molecules of 100-300 K are consistent with both ice sublimation in hot cores as well as high-temperature gas phase chemistry. Molecular features originating from the inner embedded disks are not commonly detected, likely because they are too extincted even at mid-IR wavelengths by small not-settled dust grains in upper layers of the disk., Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present the largest Galactic neutral hydrogen HI absorption survey to date, utilizing the Australian SKA Pathfinder Telescope at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30''. This survey, GASKAP-HI, unbiasedly targets 2,714 continuum background sources over 250 square degrees in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds, a significant increase compared to a total of 373 sources observed by previous Galactic absorption surveys across the entire Milky Way. We aim to investigate the physical properties of cold (CNM) and warm (WNM) neutral atomic gas in the Milky Way foreground, characterized by two prominent filaments at high Galactic latitudes (between $-45^{\circ}$ and $-25^{\circ}$). We detected strong HI absorption along 462 lines of sight above the 3$\sigma$ threshold, achieving an absorption detection rate of 17%. GASKAP-HI's unprecedented angular resolution allows for simultaneous absorption and emission measurements to sample almost the same gas clouds along a line of sight. A joint Gaussian decomposition is then applied to absorption-emission spectra to provide direct estimates of HI optical depths, temperatures, and column densities for the CNM and WNM components. The thermal properties of CNM components are consistent with those previously observed along a wide range of Solar neighborhood environments, indicating that cold HI properties are widely prevalent throughout the local interstellar medium. Across our region of interest, CNM accounts for ~30% of the total HI gas, with the CNM fraction increasing with column density toward the two filaments. Our analysis reveals an anti-correlation between CNM temperature and its optical depth, which implies that CNM with lower optical depth leads to a higher temperature., Comment: Largest Galactic HI Absorption Survey To Date (GASKAP-HI): Cold Atomic Gas in the Magellanic Cloud foreground using Australian SKA Pathfinder. This paper has 19 pages, 17 figures. This paper has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal

A search for proton decay into $e^+/\mu^+$ and a $\eta$ meson has been performed using data from a 0.373 Mton$\cdot$year exposure (6050.3 live days) of Super-Kamiokande. Compared to previous searches this work introduces an improved model of the intranuclear $\eta$ interaction cross section, resulting in a factor of two reduction in uncertainties from this source and $\sim$10\% increase in signal efficiency. No significant data excess was found above the expected number of atmospheric neutrino background events resulting in no indication of proton decay into either mode. Lower limits on the proton partial lifetime of $1.4\times\mathrm{10^{34}~years}$ for $p\rightarrow e^+\eta$ and $7.3\times\mathrm{10^{33}~years}$ for $p\rightarrow \mu^+\eta$ at the 90$\%$ C.L. were set. These limits are around 1.5 times longer than our previous study and are the most stringent to date.

Exoplanets form from circumstellar protoplanetary discs whose fundamental properties (notably their extent, composition, mass, temperature and lifetime) depend on the host star properties, such as their mass and luminosity. B-stars are among the most massive stars and their protoplanetary discs test extreme conditions for exoplanet formation. This paper investigates the frequency of giant planet companions around young B-stars (median age of 16 Myr) in the Scorpius-Centaurus association, the closest association containing a large population of B-stars. We systematically search for massive exoplanets with the high-contrast direct imaging instrument SPHERE using the data from the BEAST survey, that targets an homogeneous sample of young B-stars from the wide Sco-Cen association. We derive accurate detection limits in case of non-detections. We found evidence in previous papers for two substellar companions around 42 stars. The masses of these companions are straddling the ~13 Jupiter mass deuterium burning limit but their mass ratio with respect to their host star is close to that of Jupiter. We derive a frequency of such massive planetary mass companions around B stars of 11-5+7%, accounting for the survey sensitivity. The discoveries of substellar companions bcen b and mu2sco B happened after only few stars in the survey had been observed, raising the possibility that massive Jovian planets might be common around B-stars. However our statistical analysis show that the occurrence rate of such planets is similar around B-stars and around solar-type stars of similar age, while B-star companions exhibit low mass ratios and larger semi-major axis., Comment: Accepted in A&A

We use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) (5-28 um), to study the embedded HH 211 flow. We map a 0.95'x0.22' region, covering the full extent of the blue-shifted lobe, the central protostellar region, and a small portion of the red-shifted lobe. The jet driving source is not detected even at the longest mid-IR wavelengths. The overall morphology of the flow consists of a highly collimated jet, mostly molecular (H2, HD) with an inner atomic ([FeI], [FeII], [SI], [NiII]) structure. The jet shocks the ambient medium, producing several large bow-shocks, rich in forbidden atomic and molecular lines, and is driving an H2 molecular outflow, mostly traced by low-J, v=0 transitions. Moreover, 0-0 S(1) uncollimated emission is also detected down to 2"-3" (~650-1000 au) from the source, tracing a cold (T=200-400 K), less dense and poorly collimated molecular wind. The atomic jet ([FeII] at 26 um) is detected down to ~130 au from source, whereas the lack of H2 emission close to the source is likely due to the large visual extinction. Dust continuum-emission is detected at the terminal bow-shocks, and in the blue- and red-shifted jet, being likely dust lifted from the disk. The jet shows an onion-like structure, with layers of different size, velocity, temperature, and chemical composition. Moreover, moving from the inner jet to the outer bow-shocks, different physical, kinematic and excitation conditions for both molecular and atomic gas are observed. The jet mass-flux rate, momentum, and momentum flux of the warm H2 component are up to one order of magnitude higher than those inferred from the atomic jet component. Our findings indicate that the warm H2 component is the primary mover of the outflow, namely it is the most significant dynamical component of the jet, in contrast to jets from more evolved YSOs, where the atomic component is dominant., Comment: Paper accepted in A&A for publication

We investigate the nature of quantum jumps occurring between macroscopic metastable states of light in the open driven Jaynes-Cummings model. We find that, in the limit of zero spontaneous emission considered in [H. J. Carmichael, Phys. Rev. X 5, 031028 (2015)], the jumps from a high-photon state to the vacuum state entail two stages. The first part is coherent and modelled by the localization of a state superposition, in the example of a null-measurement record predicted by quantum trajectory theory. The underlying evolution is mediated by an unstable state (which often splits to a complex of states), identified by the conditioned density matrix and the corresponding quasiprobability distribution of the cavity field. The unstable state subsequently decays to the vacuum to complete the jump. Coherence in the localization allows for inverting the null-measurement photon average about its initial value, to account for the full switch which typically lasts a small fraction of the cavity lifetime. This mechanism is contrasted to the jumps leading from the vacuum to the high-photon state in the bistable signal. Spontaneous emission degrades coherence in the localization, and prolongs the jumps., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, with supplementary material

The spin structure functions of the proton and the deuteron were measured during the EG4 experiment at Jefferson Lab in 2006. Data were collected for longitudinally polarized electron scattering off longitudinally polarized NH$_3$ and ND$_3$ targets, for $Q^2$ values as small as 0.012 and 0.02 GeV$^2$, respectively, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). This is the archival paper of the EG4 experiment that summaries the previously reported results of the polarized structure functions $g_1$, $A_1F_1$, and their moments $\overline \Gamma_1$, $\overline \gamma_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$, for both the proton and the deuteron. In addition, we report on new results on the neutron $g_1$ extracted by combining proton and deuteron data and correcting for Fermi smearing, and on the neutron moments $\overline \Gamma_1$, $\overline \gamma_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$ formed directly from those of the proton and the deuteron. Our data are in good agreement with the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule for the proton, deuteron, and neutron. Furthermore, the isovector combination was formed for $g_1$ and the Bjorken integral $\overline \Gamma_1^{p-n}$, and compared to available theoretical predictions. All of our results provide for the first time extensive tests of spin observable predictions from chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT) in a $Q^2$ range commensurate with the pion mass. They motivate further improvement in $\chi$EFT calculations from other approaches such as the lattice gauge method., Comment: 33 pages. 26 figures. Data table provided in supplementary material (30 pages)

The time-consuming nature of training and deploying complicated Machine and Deep Learning (DL) models for a variety of applications continues to pose significant challenges in the field of Machine Learning (ML). These challenges are particularly pronounced in the federated domain, where optimizing models for individual nodes poses significant difficulty. Many methods have been developed to tackle this problem, aiming to reduce training expenses and time while maintaining efficient optimisation. Three suggested strategies to tackle this challenge include Active Learning, Knowledge Distillation, and Local Memorization. These methods enable the adoption of smaller models that require fewer computational resources and allow for model personalization with local insights, thereby improving the effectiveness of current models. The present study delves into the fundamental principles of these three approaches and proposes an advanced Federated Learning System that utilises different Personalisation methods towards improving the accuracy of AI models and enhancing user experience in real-time NG-IoT applications, investigating the efficacy of these techniques in the local and federated domain. The results of the original and optimised models are then compared in both local and federated contexts using a comparison analysis. The post-analysis shows encouraging outcomes when it comes to optimising and personalising the models with the suggested techniques.

The rise of financial crime that has been observed in recent years has created an increasing concern around the topic and many people, organizations and governments are more and more frequently trying to combat it. Despite the increase of interest in this area, there is a lack of specialized datasets that can be used to train and evaluate works that try to tackle those problems. This article proposes a new micro-benchmark dataset for algorithms and models that identify individuals and organizations, and their multiple writings, in news articles, and presents an approach that assists in its creation. Experimental efforts are also reported, using this dataset, to identify individuals and organizations in financial-crime-related articles using various low-billion parameter Large Language Models (LLMs). For these experiments, standard metrics (Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1 Score) are reported and various prompt variants comprising the best practices of prompt engineering are tested. In addition, to address the problem of ambiguous entity mentions, a simple, yet effective LLM-based disambiguation method is proposed, ensuring that the evaluation aligns with reality. Finally, the proposed approach is compared against a widely used state-of-the-art open-source baseline, showing the superiority of the proposed method.

Quantum state engineering of light is of great interest for quantum technologies, particularly generating non-classical states of light, and is often studied through quantum conditioning approaches. Recently, we demonstrated that such approaches can be applied in intense laser-atom interactions to generate optical "cat" states by using intensity measurements and classical post-selection of the measurement data. Post-processing of the sampled data set allows to select specific events corresponding to measurement statistics as if there would be non-classical states of light leading to these measurement outcomes. However, to fully realize the potential of this method for quantum state engineering, it is crucial to thoroughly investigate the role of the involved measurements and the specifications of the post-selection scheme. We illustrate this by analyzing post-selection schemes recently developed for the process of high harmonic generation, which enables generating optical cat states bright enough to induce non-linear phenomena. These findings provide significant guidance for quantum light engineering and the generation of high-quality, intense optical cat states for applications in non-linear optics and quantum information science., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures (11 main text + 1 appendix)

We investigate the behaviour of a certain additive function depending on prime divisors of specific integers lying in large gaps between consecutive primes. The result is obtained by a combination of results and ideas related to large gaps between primes and the Erd\"os-Kac theorem, especially the Kubilius model from Probabilistic Number Theory.

Over the recent years, the protection of the so-called `soft-targets', i.e. locations easily accessible by the general public with relatively low, though, security measures, has emerged as a rather challenging and increasingly important issue. The complexity and seriousness of this security threat growths nowadays exponentially, due to the emergence of new advanced technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), 3D printing, etc.); especially when it comes to large-scale, popular and diverse public spaces. In this paper, a novel Digital Twin-as-a-Security-Service (DTaaSS) architecture is introduced for holistically and significantly enhancing the protection of public spaces (e.g. metro stations, leisure sites, urban squares, etc.). The proposed framework combines a Digital Twin (DT) conceptualization with additional cutting-edge technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Big Data analytics and AI. In particular, DTaaSS comprises a holistic, real-time, large-scale, comprehensive and data-driven security solution for the efficient/robust protection of public spaces, supporting: a) data collection and analytics, b) area monitoring/control and proactive threat detection, c) incident/attack prediction, and d) quantitative and data-driven vulnerability assessment. Overall, the designed architecture exhibits increased potential in handling complex, hybrid and combined threats over large, critical and popular soft-targets. The applicability and robustness of DTaaSS is discussed in detail against representative and diverse real-world application scenarios, including complex attacks to: a) a metro station, b) a leisure site, and c) a cathedral square.

{Sulfur Monoxide is known to be a good shock tracer in molecular clouds and protostar environments, but its abundance is difficult to reproduce even using state-of-the-art astrochemical models. } {We investigate the properties of the observed SO emission in the protoplanetary disk of AB Auriga, a Herbig Ae star of 2.4 $\Msun$ located at 156 pc. The AB Aur system is unique because it exhibits a dust trap and at least one young putative planet orbiting at about 30 au from the central star.} {We reduced ALMA archival data (projects 2019.1.00579.S, 2021.1.00690.S and 2021.1.01216.S) and analyzed the three detected SO lines (SO $6_5-5_4$, $6_7-5_6$ and $5_6-4_5$). We also present C$^{17}$O and C$^{18}$O 2-1 data to complement the interpretation of the SO data.} {For the three SO lines, the maximum SO emission in the ring is not located in the dust trap. Moreover, the inner radius of the SO ring is significantly larger than the CO emission inner radius, $\sim 160$ au versus $\sim 90$ au. The SO emission traces gas located in part beyond the dust ring. This emission likely originates from shocks at the interface of the outer spirals, observed in CO and scattered light emission, and the molecular and dust ring. SO is also detected inside the cavity, at a radius $\sim 20-30$ au and with a rotation velocity compatible with the proto-planet P1. We speculate that this SO emission originates from accretion shocks onto the circumplanetary disk of the putative proto-planet P1.} {These observations confirm that SO is a good tracer of shocks in protoplanetary disks and could be a powerful, new tool to detect embedded (proto-)planets.} Conclusions. These observations confirm that SO is a good tracer of shocks in protoplanetary disks and could be a powerful, new tool to detect embedded (proto-)planets.

High-harmonic generation (HHG) has recently emerged as a promising method for generating non-classical states of light with frequencies spanning from the infrared up to the extreme ultraviolet regime. In this work, we theoretically investigate the generation of squeezed states of light through HHG processes in atomic systems that had been initially driven to their first excited state. Our study reveals significant single-mode squeezing in both the driving field and low-order harmonic modes. Additionally, we characterize two-mode squeezing features in the generated states, both between fundamental and harmonic modes, and among the harmonic modes themselves. Using these correlations, we demonstrate the generation of optical Schr\"odinger kitten states through heralding measurements, specifically via photon subtraction in one of the modes influenced by two-mode squeezing., Comment: 17 pages (10 main text + 7 appendix), 6 figures (4 main text + 2 appendix). Comments are welcome

The nucleon-quark mixed matter is defined in the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock framework, in which quark densities are determined by equilibrium conditions between nucleon and quark chemical potentials, and nucleon-quark interactions play critical roles for resulting EoSs (equation of state). The two models of EoSs are derived from the nucleon-quark mixed matter (NQMM): The NQMM-A EoSs are based on the simple assumption that nucleons and free quarks occupy their respective Fermi levels and their Fermi spheres overlap from each other. In NQMM-B EoSs, the quark Fermi repulsion effect is incorporated on the basis of quakyonic matter, meaning that the nucleon Fermi levels are pushed up from the quark Fermi sphere by the Pauli exclusion principle. For the NQMM-A EoSs, the neutron-star mass-radius ($MR$) curves are pushed up above the region of $M \sim 2.1M_\odot$ and $R_{2.1M_\odot}\sim$ 12.5 km indicated by the recent observations, as the $qN$ repulsions increase. For the NQMM-B EoSs, the similar results are obtained by the combined contributions from the $qN$ repulsion and the quark Fermi repulsion. In both models of EoSs, the important roles of the $qN$ di-quark exchange repulsions are demonstrated to reproduce reasonable values of $M_{max}$ and $R_{2.1M_\odot}$.

General relativistic effects are strong near the black hole of an X-ray binary and significantly impact the total energy released at the innermost accretion disk's region. Our goal is to fully incorporate the black hole's spin and all the general relativistic effects on the observed spectra coming from X-ray binary systems while maintaining the simplicity of the standard disk model. That is possible by appropriately shifting only the disk's inner radius. We employ some of the most efficient pseudo-Newtonian potentials around Kerr black holes and derive two generalized disk temperature profiles, thus incorporating the spin's contribution to the thermal spectra. Then, we associate the observed radiative efficiency with the emission pattern featuring all the relativistic effects included in the kerrbb model, obtaining an expression about the modified inner radius of the disk. Moreover, we apply this method to Cygnus X-1 by fitting the observational data obtained during its high/soft and hard/low spectral states. The fully relativistic spectra are reproduced to a very good approximation with an error margin of 0.03-4%. The disk is parameterized by a modified innermost radius within the range of $(0.2-2)R_{ISCO}$, depending on the source's viewing angle and black hole spin. Relativistic effects near the black hole make an otherwise standard accretion disk with inclination $\theta <60^{\circ}$ seem truncated to larger radii to a distant observer. On the other hand, an edge-on view of the disk gives the perspective of being pulled closer to the central object than the respective ISCO radius. In addition, we show that the observational data of Cygnus X-1 can be satisfactorily fitted by employing a reasonably simple lepto-hadronic jet model and a hybrid thermal/non-thermal corona along with the Kerr-adjusted standard accretion disk., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures

This study provides an analysis of atmospheric neutrino oscillations at the ESSnuSB far detector facility. The prospects of the two cylindrical Water Cherenkov detectors with a total fiducial mass of 540 kt are investigated over 10 years of data taking in the standard three-flavor oscillation scenario. We present the confidence intervals for the determination of mass ordering, $\theta_{23}$ octant as well as for the precisions on $\sin^2\theta_{23}$ and $|\Delta m_{31}^2|$. It is shown that mass ordering can be resolved by $3\sigma$ CL ($5\sigma$ CL) after 4 years (10 years) regardless of the true neutrino mass ordering. Correspondingly, the wrong $\theta_{23}$ octant could be excluded by $3\sigma$ CL after 4 years (8 years) in the case where the true neutrino mass ordering is normal ordering (inverted ordering). The results presented in this work are complementary to the accelerator neutrino program in the ESSnuSB project., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures and 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Journal of High Energy Physics

A rich inventory of complex organic molecules (COMs) has been observed in high abundances in the gas phase toward Class 0 protostars. These molecules are suggested to be formed in ices and sublimate in the warm inner envelope close to the protostar. However, only the most abundant COM, methanol (CH3OH), has been firmly detected in ices before the era of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Now it is possible to detect the interstellar ices of other COMs and constrain their ice column densities quantitatively. We aim to determine the column densities of several oxygen-bearing COMs (O-COMs) in both gas and ice for two low-mass protostellar sources, NGC 1333 IRAS 2A and B1-c, as case studies in our JWST Observations of Young protoStars (JOYS+) program. By comparing the column density ratios w.r.t. CH3OH between both phases measured in the same sources, we can probe into the evolution of COMs from ice to gas in the early stages of star formation. We are able to fit the fingerprints range of COM ices between 6.8 and 8.8 um in the JWST/MIRI-MRS spectra of B1-c using similar components as recently used for IRAS 2A. We claim detection of CH4, OCN-, HCOO-, HCOOH, CH3CHO, C2H5OH, CH3OCH3, CH3OCHO, and CH3COCH3 in B1-c, and upper limits are estimated for SO2, CH3COOH, and CH3CN. The comparison of O-COM ratios w.r.t CH3OH between ice and gas shows two different cases. 1) the column density ratios of CH3OCHO and CH3OCH3 match well between the two phases, which may be attributed to a direct inheritance from ice to gas or strong chemical links with CH3OH. 2) the ice ratios of CH3CHO and C2H5OH w.r.t. CH3OH are higher than the gas ratios by 1-2 orders of magnitudes. This difference can be explained by the gas-phase reprocessing following sublimation, or different spatial distributions of COMs in the envelope., Comment: 42 pages (22 main text, 20 appendix); 27 figures (12 in main text, 15 in appendix); 5 tables (2 in main text, 3 in appendix) Accepted for publication in A&A

We present the abundances of magnesium (Mg) and silicon (Si) for 314 dwarf stars with spectral types in the interval K7.0-M5.5 (Teff range ~4200-3050 K) observed with the CARMENES high-resolution spectrograph at the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory. Our analysis employs the BT-Settl model atmospheres, the radiative transfer code Turbospectrum, and a state-of-the-art selection of atomic and molecular data. These Mg and Si abundances are critical for understanding both the chemical evolution and assembly of the Milky Way and the formation and composition of rocky planets. Our chemical abundances show a line-to-line scatter at the level of 0.1 dex for all studied spectral types. The typical error bar of our chemical abundance measurements is +- 0.11 dex (Mg) and +- 0.16 dex (Si) for all spectral types based on the comparison of the results obtained for stellar components of multiple systems. The derived abundances are consistent with the galactic evolution trends and observed chemical abundance distribution of earlier FGK-type stars in the solar neighbourhood. Besides, our analysis provides compatible abundances for stars in multiple systems. In addition, we studied the abundances of different galactic stellar populations. In this paper, we also explore the relation of the Mg and Si abundances of stars with and without known planets., Comment: 11 Pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

The center-of-mass position of a single trapped atomic ion is measured and tracked in time with high precision. Employing a near-resonant radio frequency field of wavelength 2.37 cm and a static magnetic field gradient of 19 T/m, the spatial location of the ion is determined with an unprecedented wavelength-relative resolution of 5 $\times$ 10$^{-9}$, corresponding to an absolute precision of 0.12 nm. Measurements of an electrostatic force on a single ion demonstrate a sensitivity of 2.2 $\times$ 10$^{-23} ~\text{N}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$. The real-time measurement of an atom's position complements the well-established technique of scanning near-field radio frequency transmission microscopy and opens up a novel route to using this method with path breaking spatial and force resolution.

Understanding planet formation is important in the context of the origin of planetary systems in general and of the Solar System in particular, as well as to predict the likelihood of finding Jupiter, Neptune, and Earth analogues around other stars. We aim to precisely determine the radii and dynamical masses of transiting planets orbiting the young M star AU Mic using public photometric and spectroscopic datasets. We characterise the stellar activity and physical properties (radius, mass, density) of the transiting planets in the young AU Mic system through joint transit and radial velocity fits with Gaussian processes. We determine a radius of $R^{b}$= 4.79 +/- 0.29 R$_\oplus$, a mass of $M^{b}$= 9.0 +/- 2.7 M$_\oplus$, and a bulk density of $\rho^{b}$ = 0.49 +/- 0.16 g cm$^{-3}$ for the innermost transiting planet AU Mic b. For the second known transiting planet, AU Mic c, we infer a radius of $R^{c}$= 2.79 +/- 0.18 R$_\oplus$, a mass of $M^{c}$= 14.5 +/- 3.4 M$_\oplus$, and a bulk density of $\rho^{c}$ = 3.90 +/- 1.17 g cm$^{-3}$. According to theoretical models, AU Mic b may harbour an H2 envelope larger than 5\% by mass, with a fraction of rock and a fraction of water. AU Mic c could be made of rock and/or water and may have an H2 atmosphere comprising at most 5\% of its mass. AU Mic b has retained most of its atmosphere but might lose it over tens of millions of years due to the strong stellar radiation, while AU Mic c likely suffers much less photo-evaporation because it lies at a larger separation from its host. Using all the datasets in hand, we determine a 3$\sigma$ upper mass limit of $M^{[d]}\sin{i}$ = 8.6 M$_{\oplus}$ for the AU Mic 'd' TTV-candidate. In addition, we do not confirm the recently proposed existence of the planet candidate AU Mic 'e' with an orbital period of 33.4 days., Comment: Accepted in A&A. 28 pages, 15 figures

Surveys in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud revealed that the majority of massive stars will interact with companions during their lives. However, knowledge of the binary properties of massive stars at low metallicity, which approaches the conditions of the Early Universe, remains sparse. We present the Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM) campaign - an ESO large programme designed to obtain 25 epochs of spectroscopy for 929 massive stars in the SMC - the lowest metallicity conditions in which multiplicity is probed to date (Z = 0.2 Zsun). BLOeM will provide (i) the binary fraction, (ii) the orbital configurations of systems with periods P < 3 yr, (iii) dormant OB+BH binaries, and (iv) a legacy database of physical parameters of massive stars at low metallicity. The stars are observed with the LR02 setup of the giraffe instrument of the Very Large Telescope (3960-4570A, resolving power R=6200; typical signal-to-noise ratio S/N=70-100). This paper utilises the first 9 epochs obtained over a three-month time. We describe the survey and data reduction, perform a spectral classification of the stacked spectra, and construct a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the sample via spectral-type and photometric calibrations. The sample covers spectral types from O4 to F5, spanning the effective temperature and luminosity ranges 6.5

The probabilities for gamma-ray and particle emission as a function of the excitation energy of a decaying nucleus are valuable observables for constraining the ingredients of the models that describe the de-excitation of nuclei near the particle emission threshold. These models are essential in nuclear astrophysics and applications. In this work, we have for the first time simultaneously measured the gamma-ray and neutron emission probabilities of 208Pb. The measurement was performed in inverse kinematics at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) of the GSI/FAIR facility, where a 208Pb beam interacted through the 208Pb(p,p') reaction with a hydrogen gas jet target. Instead of detecting the gamma-rays and neutrons emitted by 208Pb, we detected the heavy beam-like residues produced after gamma and neutron emission. These heavy residues were fully separated by a dipole magnet of the ESR and were detected with outstanding efficiencies. The comparison of the measured probabilities with model calculations has allowed us to test different descriptions of the gamma-ray strength function and the nuclear level density available in the literature., Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures

In the field of modern robotics, robots are proving to be useful in tackling high-risk situations, such as navigating hazardous environments like burning buildings, earthquake-stricken areas, or patrolling crime-ridden streets, as well as exploring uncharted caves. These scenarios share similarities with maze exploration problems in terms of complexity. While several methods have been proposed for single-agent systems, ranging from potential fields to flood-fill methods, recent research endeavors have focused on creating methods tailored for multiple agents to enhance the quality and efficiency of maze coverage. The contribution of this paper is the implementation of established maze exploration methods and their comparison with a new cost-utility algorithm designed for multiple agents, which combines the existing methodologies to optimize exploration outcomes. Through a comprehensive and comparative analysis, this paper evaluates the performance of the new approach against the implemented baseline methods from the literature, highlighting its efficacy and potential advantages in various scenarios. The code and experimental results supporting this study are available in the following repository (https://github.com/manouslinard/multiagent-exploration/)., Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, Conference on Artificial Intelligence SETN 2024. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2405.20232

Context. B supergiants (BSGs) represent an important connection between the main sequence and more extreme evolutionary stages of massive stars. Additionally, lying toward the cool end of the hot star regime, determining their wind properties is crucial to constrain the evolution and feedback of massive stars as, for instance, they might manifest the bi-stability jump phenomenon. Aims. We undertake a detailed analysis of a representative sample of 18 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) BSGs within the ULLYSES and XShootU datasets. Our UV and optical analysis spans BSGs from B0 to B8 - covering the bi-stability jump region. We aim to evaluate their evolutionary status and verify what their wind properties say about the bi-stability jump in a low-metallicity environment. Methods. We used the CMFGEN to model the spectra and photometry (from UV to infrared) of our sample. We compare our results with different evolutionary models, with previous determinations in the literature of OB stars, and with diverging mass-loss recipes at the bi-stability jump. Additionally, we provide the first BSG models in the SMC including X-rays. Results. (i) Within a single-stellar evolution framework, the evolutionary status of early BSGs seem less clear than that of late BSGs, which agree with H-shell burning models. (ii) UV analysis shows evidence that BSGs contain X-rays in their atmospheres, for which we provide constraints. In general, we find higher X-ray luminosity (close to the standard log(L_X/L) ~ -7) for early BSGs. For cooler BSGs, lower values are preferred, log(L_X/L) ~ -8.5. (iii) The obtained mass-loss rates suggest neither a jump nor a monotonic decrease with temperature. Instead, a rather constant trend is observed, which is at odds with the increase found for Galactic BSGs. (iv) The wind velocity behavior with temperature shows a sharp drop at ~19 kK, similar to what is observed for Galactic BSGs., Comment: 33 pages (23+10)+(22 at Zenodo), 34 figures (21+13)+(21 at Zenodo), 7 tables (3+4)+(1 at Zenodo), accepted for publication

GJ 581 is a nearby M dwarf known to host a packed multiple planet system with 2 super-Earths and a Neptune-mass planet. We present new orbital analyses of the system, utilizing recent RV data obtained from the CARMENES spectrograph combined with newly reprocessed archival data from the HARPS and HIRES spectrographs. Our aim was to analyze the post-discovery spectroscopic data of GJ 581, which were obtained with CARMENES. In addition, we used publicly available HIRES and HARPS spectroscopic data to seek evidence of the known and disputed exoplanets in this system. We aimed to investigate the stellar activity of GJ 581 and update the planetary system's orbital parameters using state-of-the-art numerical models and techniques. We performed a periodogram analysis of the available precise CARMENES, HIRES, and HARPS RVs and of stellar activity indicators. We conducted detailed orbital analyses by testing various orbital configurations consistent with the RV data. We studied the posterior probability distribution of the parameters fit to the data and explored the long-term stability and overall orbital dynamics of the system. We refined the orbital parameters of the system using the most precise and complete set of Doppler data available. Consistent with the existing literature, we confirm that the system is unequivocally composed of only 3 planets detectable in the present data, dismissing the putative planet GJ 581 d as an artifact of stellar activity. Our N-body fit reveals that the system's inclination is i $=$ 47.0 deg, which implies that the planets could be up to 30% more massive than their previously reported minimum masses. Furthermore, we report that the system exhibits long-term stability, as indicated by the posterior probability distribution, characterized by secular dynamical interactions without the involvement of mean motion resonances., Comment: 21 pages, 8 Figures, 5 Tables, 1 Appendix, Accepted for publication in A&A (20th March 2024), Data available at the CDS

We present a new lattice QCD calculation of the leading order hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_\mu$. We reduce uncertainties compared to our earlier computation by $40\%$, arXiv:2002.12347. We perform simulations on finer lattices allowing for an even more accurate continuum extrapolation. We also include a small, long-distance contribution obtained using input from experiments in a low-energy regime where they all agree. Combined with other standard model contributions our result leads to a prediction that differs from the measurement of $a_\mu$ by only 0.9 standard deviations. This provides a remarkable validation of the standard model to 0.37ppm., Comment: 55 pages, 31 figures

Image data augmentation constitutes a critical methodology in modern computer vision tasks, since it can facilitate towards enhancing the diversity and quality of training datasets; thereby, improving the performance and robustness of machine learning models in downstream tasks. In parallel, augmentation approaches can also be used for editing/modifying a given image in a context- and semantics-aware way. Diffusion Models (DMs), which comprise one of the most recent and highly promising classes of methods in the field of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), have emerged as a powerful tool for image data augmentation, capable of generating realistic and diverse images by learning the underlying data distribution. The current study realizes a systematic, comprehensive and in-depth review of DM-based approaches for image augmentation, covering a wide range of strategies, tasks and applications. In particular, a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental principles, model architectures and training strategies of DMs is initially performed. Subsequently, a taxonomy of the relevant image augmentation methods is introduced, focusing on techniques regarding semantic manipulation, personalization and adaptation, and application-specific augmentation tasks. Then, performance assessment methodologies and respective evaluation metrics are analyzed. Finally, current challenges and future research directions in the field are discussed., Comment: 53 pages, 15 figures

We present JWST/MIRI MRS spatially resolved $\sim 5-28\,\mu$m observations of the central ~4-8kpc of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy and broad absorption line quasar Mrk231. These are part of the Mid-Infrared Characterization of Nearby Iconic galaxy Centers (MICONIC) program of the MIRI European Consortium guaranteed time observations. No high excitation lines (i.e., [MgV] at 5.61$\mu$m or [NeV] at 14.32$\mu$m) typically associated with the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) are detected in the nuclear region of Mrk231. This is likely due to the intrinsically X-ray weak nature of its quasar. Some intermediate ionization potential lines, for instance, [ArIII] at 8.99$\mu$m and [SIV] at 10.51$\mu$m, are not detected either, even though they are clearly observed in a star-forming region ~920pc south-east of the AGN. Thus, the strong nuclear mid-infrared (mid-IR) continuum is also in part hampering the detection of faint lines in the nuclear region. The nuclear [NeIII]/[NeII]line ratio is consistent with values observed in star-forming galaxies. Moreover, we resolve for the first time the nuclear starburst in the mid-IR low-excitation line emission (size of ~400pc, FWHM). Several pieces of evidence also indicate that it is partly obscured even at these wavelengths. At the AGN position, the ionized and warm molecular gas emission lines have modest widths (W_80~300km/s). There are, however, weak blueshifted wings reaching velocities v_02~-400km/s in [NeII]. The nuclear starburst is at the center of a large (~8kpc), massive rotating disk with widely-spread, low velocity outflows. Given the high star formation rate of Mrk231, we speculate that part of the nuclear outflows and the large-scale non-circular motions observed in the mid-IR are driven by its powerful nuclear starburst., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

High-significance evidences of the existence of a high-energy diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos have emerged in the last decade from several observations by the IceCube Collaboration. The ANTARES neutrino telescope took data for 15 years in the Mediterranean Sea, from 2007 to 2022, and collected a high-purity all-flavour neutrino sample. The search for a diffuse cosmic neutrino signal using this dataset is presented in this article. This final analysis did not provide a statistically significant observation of the cosmic diffuse flux. However, this is converted into limits on the properties of the cosmic neutrino spectrum. In particular, given the sensitivity of the ANTARES neutrino telescope between 1 and 50 TeV, constraints on single-power-law hypotheses are derived for the cosmic diffuse flux below 20 TeV, especially for power-law fits of the IceCube data with spectral index softer than 2.8.

We describe the planned near-term and potential longer-term upgrades of the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider operating at the KEK laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan. These upgrades will allow increasingly sensitive searches for possible new physics beyond the Standard Model in flavor, tau, electroweak and dark sector physics that are both complementary to and competitive with the LHC and other experiments., Comment: Editor: F. Forti 170 pages

We aim to constrain the gas density and temperature distributions as well as gas masses in several T Tauri protoplanetary disks located in Taurus. We use the 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (2-1) isotopologue emission observed at 0.9 with the IRAM NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) as part of the MPG-IRAM Observatory Program PRODIGE (PROtostars and DIsks: Global Evolution PIs: P. Caselli & Th. Henning). Our sample consists of Class II disks with no evidence of strong radial substructures. We use thesedata to constrain the thermal and chemical structure of these disks through theoretical models for gas emission. To fit the combined optically thick and thin CO line data in Fourier space, we developed the DiskCheF code, which includes the parameterized disk physical structure, machine-learning (ML) accelerated chemistry, and the RADMC-3D line radiative transfer module. A key novelty of DiskCheF is the fast and feasible ML-based chemistry trained on the extended grid of the disk physical-chemical models precomputed with the ANDES2 code. This ML approach allows complex chemical kinetics models to be included in a time-consuming disk fitting without the need to run a chemical code. We present a novel approach to incorporate chemistry into disk modeling without the need to explicitly calculate a chemical network every time. Using this new disk modeling tool, we successfully fit the 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (2-1) data from the CI, CY, DL, DM, DN, and IQ Tau disks. The combination of optically thin and optically thick CO lines allows us to simultaneously constrain the disk temperature and mass distribution, and derive the CO-based gas masses. These values are in reasonable agreement with the disk dust masses rescaled by a factor of 100 as well as with other indirect gas measurements., Comment: 25 pages, 19 figures

Measuring Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering on the neutron is one of the necessary steps to understand the structure of the nucleon in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). Neutron targets play a complementary role to transversely polarized proton targets in the determination of the GPD $E$. This poorly known and poorly constrained GPD is essential to obtain the contribution of the quarks' angular momentum to the spin of the nucleon. DVCS on the neutron was measured for the first time selecting the exclusive final state by detecting the neutron, using the Jefferson Lab longitudinally polarized electron beam, with energies up to 10.6 GeV, and the CLAS12 detector. The extracted beam-spin asymmetries, combined with DVCS observables measured on the proton, allow a clean quark-flavor separation of the imaginary parts of the GPDs $H$ and $E$., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

Modern technologies have led illicit firearms trafficking to partially merge with cybercrime, while simultaneously permitting its off-line aspects to become more sophisticated. Law enforcement officers face difficult challenges that require hi-tech solutions. This article presents a real-world system, powered by advanced Artificial Intelligence, for facilitating them in their everyday work.

Very low-mass stars (those <0.3 solar masses) host orbiting terrestrial planets more frequently than other types of stars, but the compositions of those planets are largely unknown. We use mid-infrared spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate the chemical composition of the planet-forming disk around ISO-ChaI 147, a 0.11 solar-mass star. The inner disk has a carbon-rich chemistry: we identify emission from 13 carbon-bearing molecules including ethane and benzene. We derive large column densities of hydrocarbons indicating that we probe deep into the disk. The high carbon to oxygen ratio we infer indicates radial transport of material within the disk, which we predict would affect the bulk composition of any planets forming in the disk., Comment: Published, 36 pages, 8 figures

We investigate specific intrinsic curvatures $\rho_k$ (where $1\leq k\leq n$) that interpolate between the minimum Ricci curvature $\rho_1$ and the normalized scalar curvature $\rho_n=\rho$ of $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifolds. For $n$-dimensional submanifolds in space forms, these curvatures satisfy an inequality involving the mean curvature $H$ and the normal scalar curvature $\rho^\perp$, which reduces to the well-known DDVV inequality when $k=n$. We derive topological obstructions for compact $n$-dimensional submanifolds based on universal lower bounds of the $L^{n/2}$-norms of certain functions involving $\rho_k,H$ and $\rho^\perp$. These obstructions are expressed in terms of the Betti numbers. Our main result applies for any $1\leq k \leq n-1$, but it generally fails for $k=n$, where the involved norm vanishes precisely for Wintgen ideal submanifolds. We demonstrate this by providing a method of constructing new compact 3-dimensional minimal Wintgen ideal submanifolds in even-dimensional spheres. Specifically, we prove that such submanifolds exist in $\mathbb{S}^6$ with arbitrarily large first Betti number.

Size measurements of tumor manifestations on follow-up CT examinations are crucial for evaluating treatment outcomes in cancer patients. Efficient lesion segmentation can speed up these radiological workflows. While numerous benchmarks and challenges address lesion segmentation in specific organs like the liver, kidneys, and lungs, the larger variety of lesion types encountered in clinical practice demands a more universal approach. To address this gap, we introduced the ULS23 benchmark for 3D universal lesion segmentation in chest-abdomen-pelvis CT examinations. The ULS23 training dataset contains 38,693 lesions across this region, including challenging pancreatic, colon and bone lesions. For evaluation purposes, we curated a dataset comprising 775 lesions from 284 patients. Each of these lesions was identified as a target lesion in a clinical context, ensuring diversity and clinical relevance within this dataset. The ULS23 benchmark is publicly accessible via uls23.grand-challenge.org, enabling researchers worldwide to assess the performance of their segmentation methods. Furthermore, we have developed and publicly released our baseline semi-supervised 3D lesion segmentation model. This model achieved an average Dice coefficient of 0.703 $\pm$ 0.240 on the challenge test set. We invite ongoing submissions to advance the development of future ULS models.

Since 2019, GRAVITY has provided direct observations of giant planets and brown dwarfs at separations of down to 95 mas from the host star. Some of these observations have provided the first direct confirmation of companions previously detected by indirect techniques (astrometry and radial velocities). We want to improve the observing strategy and data reduction in order to lower the inner working angle of GRAVITY in dual-field on-axis mode. We also want to determine the current limitations of the instrument when observing faint companions with separations in the 30-150 mas range. To improve the inner working angle, we propose a fiber off-pointing strategy during the observations to maximize the ratio of companion-light-to-star-light coupling in the science fiber. We also tested a lower-order model for speckles to decouple the companion light from the star light. We then evaluated the detection limits of GRAVITY using planet injection and retrieval in representative archival data. We compare our results to theoretical expectations. We validate our observing and data-reduction strategy with on-sky observations; first in the context of brown dwarf follow-up on the auxiliary telescopes with HD 984 B, and second with the first confirmation of a substellar candidate around the star Gaia DR3 2728129004119806464. With synthetic companion injection, we demonstrate that the instrument can detect companions down to a contrast of $8\times 10^{-4}$ ($\Delta \mathrm{K}= 7.7$ mag) at a separation of 35 mas, and a contrast of $3\times 10^{-5}$ ($\Delta \mathrm{K}= 11$ mag) at 100 mas from a bright primary (K<6.5), for 30 min exposure time. With its inner working angle and astrometric precision, GRAVITY has a unique reach in direct observation parameter space. This study demonstrates the promising synergies between GRAVITY and Gaia for the confirmation and characterization of substellar companions., Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to A&A

Robotic exploration has long captivated researchers aiming to map complex environments efficiently. Techniques such as potential fields and frontier exploration have traditionally been employed in this pursuit, primarily focusing on solitary agents. Recent advancements have shifted towards optimizing exploration efficiency through multiagent systems. However, many existing approaches overlook critical real-world factors, such as broadcast range limitations, communication costs, and coverage overlap. This paper addresses these gaps by proposing a distributed maze exploration strategy (CU-LVP) that assumes constrained broadcast ranges and utilizes Voronoi diagrams for better area partitioning. By adapting traditional multiagent methods to distributed environments with limited broadcast ranges, this study evaluates their performance across diverse maze topologies, demonstrating the efficacy and practical applicability of the proposed method. The code and experimental results supporting this study are available in the following repository: https://github.com/manouslinard/multiagent-exploration/., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures

Strongly laser-driven semiconductor crystals offer substantial advantages for the study of many-body physics and ultrafast optoelectronics via the high harmonic generation process. While this phenomenon has been employed to investigate the dynamics of solids in the presence of strong laser fields, its potential to be utilized as an attosecond light source has remained unexploited. Here, we demonstrate that the high harmonics generated through the interaction of mid--infrared pulses with a ZnO crystal leads to the production of attosecond pulses, that can be used to trace the ultrafast ionization dynamics of alkali metals. In a cross--correlation approach, we photoionize Cesium atoms with the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) high-harmonics in the presence of a mid-infrared laser field. We observe strong oscillations of the photoelectron yield originating from the instantaneous polarization of the atoms by the laser field. The phase of the oscillations encodes the attosecond synchronization of the ionizing high-harmonics and is used for attosecond pulse metrology. This light source opens a new spectral window for attosecond spectroscopy, paving the way for studies of systems with low ionization potentials including neutral atoms, molecules and solids. Additionally, our results highlight the significance of the source for generating non--classical massively entangled light states in the visible--VUV spectral region., Comment: 9 pages (7 main text + 2 supplementary material), 4 figures

We explore the statistical behavior of the light emanating from a coherently driven Jaynes-Cummings (JC) oscillator operating in the regime of multiphoton blockade with two monitored output channels causing the loss of coherence at equal rates. We do so by adopting an operational approach which draws the particle and wave aspects of the forwards scattered radiation together, building upon the relationship between quantum optical correlation functions and conditional measurements. We first derive an analytical expression of the intensity cross-correlation function at the peak of the two-photon JC resonance to demonstrate the breakdown of detailed balance. The application of quantum trajectory theory in parallel with the quantum regression formula subsequently uncovers various aspects of temporal asymmetry in the quantum fluctuations characterizing the cascaded process through which a multiphoton resonance is established and read out. We find that monitoring different quadratures of the cavity field in conditional homodyne detection affects the times waited between successive photon counter ``clicks'', which in turn trigger the sampling of the homodyne current. Despite the fact that the steady-state cavity occupation is of the order of a photon, monitoring of the developing bimodality also impacts on the ratio between the emissions directed along the two decoherence channels., Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, 3 appendices, accepted version

The Super-Kamiokande and T2K collaborations present a joint measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters from their atmospheric and beam neutrino data. It uses a common interaction model for events overlapping in neutrino energy and correlated detector systematic uncertainties between the two datasets, which are found to be compatible. Using 3244.4 days of atmospheric data and a beam exposure of $19.7(16.3) \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in (anti)neutrino mode, the analysis finds a 1.9$\sigma$ exclusion of CP-conservation (defined as $J_{CP}=0$) and a preference for the normal mass ordering., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

Federated learning (FL) is a decentralized learning technique that enables participating devices to collaboratively build a shared Machine Leaning (ML) or Deep Learning (DL) model without revealing their raw data to a third party. Due to its privacy-preserving nature, FL has sparked widespread attention for building Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) within the realm of cybersecurity. However, the data heterogeneity across participating domains and entities presents significant challenges for the reliable implementation of an FL-based IDS. In this paper, we propose an effective method called Statistical Averaging (StatAvg) to alleviate non-independently and identically (non-iid) distributed features across local clients' data in FL. In particular, StatAvg allows the FL clients to share their individual data statistics with the server, which then aggregates this information to produce global statistics. The latter are shared with the clients and used for universal data normalisation. It is worth mentioning that StatAvg can seamlessly integrate with any FL aggregation strategy, as it occurs before the actual FL training process. The proposed method is evaluated against baseline approaches using datasets for network and host Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered IDS. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of StatAvg in mitigating non-iid feature distributions across the FL clients compared to the baseline methods., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

The current experiments searching for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay also collect large statistics of Standard Model allowed two-neutrino double-$\beta$ ($2\nu\beta\beta$) decay events. These can be used to search for Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics via $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay spectral distortions. $^{100}$Mo has a natural advantage due to its relatively short half-life, allowing higher $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay statistics at equal exposures compared to the other isotopes. We demonstrate the potential of the dual read-out bolometric technique exploiting a $^{100}$Mo exposure of 1.47 kg $\times$ y, acquired in the CUPID-Mo experiment at the Modane underground laboratory (France). We set limits on $0\nu\beta\beta$ decays with the emission of one or more Majorons, on $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay with Lorentz violation, and $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay with a sterile neutrino emission. In this analysis, we investigate the systematic uncertainty induced by modeling the $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay spectral shape parameterized through an improved model, an effect never considered before. This work motivates searches for BSM processes in the upcoming CUPID experiment, which will collect the largest amount of $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay events among the next-generation experiments.

The solid-state C$_2$H$_2$ chemistry in interstellar H$_2$O-rich ice has been proposed to explain astronomically observed complex organic molecules (COMs), including ketene (CH$_2$CO), acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), and ethanol (CH$_3$CH$_2$OH), toward early star-forming regions. This formation mechanism is supported by recent laboratory studies and theoretical calculations for the reactions of C$_2$H$_2$+OH/H. However, the analog reaction of C$_2$H$_2$+NH$_2$ forming N-bearing species has been suggested to have a relatively low rate constant that is orders of magnitude lower than the value of C$_2$H$_2$+OH. This work extends our previous laboratory studies on O-bearing COM formation to investigate the interactions between C$_2$H$_2$ and NH$_3$ ice triggered by cosmic ray-induced secondary UV photons under molecular cloud conditions. Experiments were performed in an ultra-high vacuum chamber to investigate the UV photolysis of the C$_2$H$_2$:NH$_3$ ice mixture at 10 K. The studied ice chemistry of C$_2$H$_2$ with NH$_2$ radicals and H atoms resulting from the UV photodissociation of NH$_3$ leads to the formation of several N-bearing COMs, including vinylamine (CH$_2$CHNH$_2$), acetaldimine (CH$_3$CHNH), acetonitrile (CH$_3$CN), ketenimine (CH$_2$CNH), and tentatively ethylamine (CH$_3$CH$_2$NH$_2$). The experimental results show an immediate and abundant CH$_2$CHNH$_2$ yield as the first-generation product, which is further converted into other chemical derivatives. The effective destruction and formation cross-section values of parent species and COMs were derived, and we discuss the chemical links among these molecules and their astronomical relevance., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures

Position calibration in the deep sea is typically done by means of acoustic multilateration using three or more acoustic emitters installed at known positions. Rather than using hydrophones as receivers that are exposed to the ambient pressure, the sound signals can be coupled to piezo ceramics glued to the inside of existing containers for electronics or measuring instruments of a deep sea infrastructure. The ANTARES neutrino telescope operated from 2006 until 2022 in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth exceeding 2000m. It comprised nearly 900 glass spheres with 432mm diameter and 15mm thickness, equipped with photomultiplier tubes to detect Cherenkov light from tracks of charged elementary particles. In an experimental setup within ANTARES, piezo sensors have been glued to the inside of such - otherwise empty - glass spheres. These sensors recorded signals from acoustic emitters with frequencies from 46545 to 60235Hz. Two waves propagating through the glass sphere are found as a result of the excitation by the waves in the water. These can be qualitatively associated with symmetric and asymmetric Lamb-like waves of zeroth order: a fast (early) one with $v_e \approx 5$mm/$\mu$s and a slow (late) one with $v_\ell \approx 2$mm/$\mu$s. Taking these findings into account improves the accuracy of the position calibration. The results can be transferred to the KM3NeT neutrino telescope, currently under construction at multiple sites in the Mediterranean Sea, for which the concept of piezo sensors glued to the inside of glass spheres has been adapted for monitoring the positions of the photomultiplier tubes., Comment: submitted to "Experimental Astronomy"

Water-based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS) is a novel detector medium for particle physics experiments. Applications range from the use as hybrid Cherenkov/scintillation target in low-energy and accelerator neutrino experiments to large-volume neutron vetoes for dark matter detectors. Here, we present a novel WbLS featuring new components (the surfactant Triton-X and vitamin C for long-term stability), a new production recipe, and a thorough characterization of its properties. Moreover, based on neutron scattering data we are able to demonstrate that the pulse shape discrimination capabilities of this particular LS are comparable to fully-organic LAB based scintillators.