Eight luminous early-type galaxies in nearby pairs and sparse groups. I. Stellar populations spatially analysed

We present a detailed spatial analysis of stellar populations based on long-slit optical spectra in a sample of eight luminous early-type galaxies selected from nearby sparse groups and pairs, three of them may have interaction with another galaxy of similar mass. We have spatially measured luminosity-weighted averages of age, [M/H], [Fe/H], and [\(\alpha /\mbox{Fe}\)] in the sample galaxies to add empirical data relative to the influence of galaxy mass, environment, interaction, and AGN feedback in their formation and evolution. The stellar population of the individual galaxies were determined through the well-established stellar population synthesis code starlight using semi-empirical simple stellar population models. Radial variations of luminosity- weighted means of age, [M/H], [Fe/H], and [\(\alpha /\mbox{Fe}\)] were quantified up to half of the effective radius of each galaxy. We found trends between representative values of age, [M/H], [\(\alpha /\mbox{Fe}\)], and the nuclear stellar velocity dispersion. There are also relations between the metallicity/age gradients and the velocity dispersion. Contributions of 1–4 Gyr old stellar populations were quantified in IC?5328 and NGC?6758 as well as 4–8 Gyr old ones in NGC?5812. Extended gas is present in IC?5328, NGC?1052, NGC?1209, and NGC?6758, and the presence of a LINER is identified in all these galaxies. The regions up to one effective radius of all galaxies are basically dominated by \(\alpha \)-enhanced metal-rich old stellar populations likely due to rapid star formation episodes that induced efficient chemical enrichment. On average, the age and [\(\alpha /\mbox{Fe}\)] gradients are null and the [M/H] gradients are negative, although discordant cases were found. We found no correlation between the stellar population properties and the LINER presence as well as between the stellar properties and environment or gravitational interaction, suggesting that the influence of progenitor mass cannot be discarded in the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies.     

Establishing the Galactic Centre distance using VVV Bulge RR Lyrae variables

This study’s objective was to exploit infrared VVV (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) photometry for high latitude RRab stars to establish an accurate Galactic Centre distance. RRab candidates were discovered and reaffirmed (\(n=4194\)) by matching \(K_{s}\) photometry with templates via \(\chi ^{2}\) minimization, and contaminants were reduced by ensuring targets adhered to a strict period-amplitude (\(\Delta K_{s}\)) trend and passed the Elorietta et al. classifier. The distance to the Galactic Centre was determined from a high latitude Bulge subsample (\(|b|>4^{\circ}\), \(R_{\mathit{GC}}=8.30 \pm 0.36\) kpc, random uncertainty is relatively negligible), and importantly, the comparatively low color-excess and uncrowded location mitigated uncertainties tied to the extinction law, the magnitude-limited nature of the analysis, and photometric contamination. Circumventing those problems resulted in a key uncertainty being the \(M_{K_{s}}\) relation, which was derived using LMC RRab stars (\(M_{K_{s}}=-(2.66\pm 0.06) \log {P}-(1.03\pm 0.06)\), \((J-K_{s})_{0}=(0.31\pm 0.04) \log {P} + (0.35\pm 0.02)\), assuming \(\mu _{0,\mathit{LMC}}=18.43\)). The Galactic Centre distance was not corrected for the cone-effect. Lastly, a new distance indicator emerged as brighter overdensities in the period-magnitude-amplitude diagrams analyzed, which arise from blended RRab and red clump stars. Blending may thrust faint extragalactic variables into the range of detectability.     

New holographic dark energy model with constant bulk viscosity in modified $$ gravity theory

The aim of this paper is to study new holographic dark energy (HDE) model in modified \(f(R,T)\) gravity theory within the framework of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model with bulk viscous matter content. It is thought that the negative pressure caused by the bulk viscosity can play the role of dark energy component, and drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. This is the motive of this paper to observe such phenomena with bulk viscosity. In the specific model \(f(R,T)=R+\lambda T\), where \(R\) is the Ricci scalar, \(T\) the trace of the energy-momentum tensor and \(\lambda \) is a constant, we find the solution for non-viscous and viscous new HDE models. We analyze new HDE model with constant bulk viscosity, \(\zeta =\zeta _{0}= \text{const.}\) to explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We classify all possible scenarios (deceleration, acceleration and their transition) with possible positive and negative ranges of \(\lambda \) over the constraint on \(\zeta _{0}\) to analyze the evolution of the universe. We obtain the solutions of scale factor and deceleration parameter, and discuss the evolution of the universe. We observe the future finite-time singularities of type I and III at a finite time under certain constraints on \(\lambda \). We also investigate the statefinder and \(\mathit{Om}\) diagnostics of the viscous new HDE model to discriminate with other existing dark energy models. In late time the viscous new HDE model approaches to \(\varLambda \mathit{CDM}\) model. We also discuss the thermodynamics and entropy of the model and find that it satisfies the second law of thermodynamics.     

Dark energy cosmological models with cosmic string

In this paper we have studied the anisotropic Kantowski-Sachs, locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I and LRS Bianchi type-III geometries filled with dark energy and one dimensional cosmic string in the Saez-Ballester theory of gravitation. To get physically valid solution we take hybrid expansion law of the average scale factor which is a product of power and exponential type of functions that results in time dependent deceleration parameter (\(q\)). The equation of state parameter of dark energy (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)) has been discussed and we have observed that for the three models it crosses the phantom divide line (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}} = -1\)) and shows quintom like behavior. The density of dark energy (\(\rho _{\mathit{de}}\)) is an increasing function of redshift and remains positive throughout the evolution of the universe for the three models. Moreover in Kantowski-Sachs and LRS Bianchi type-I geometries the dark energy density dominates the string tension density (\(\lambda \)) and proper density (\(\rho \)) throughout the evolution of the universe. The physical and geometrical aspects of the statefinder parameters (\(r,s\)), squared speed of sound (\(v_{s}^{2} \)) and \(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)–\(\omega ^{\prime }_{\mathit{de}}\) plane are also discussed.     

STEREO observations of hybrid stars V775 Tau and V483 Tau

In this study, pulsational and physical characteristics of two \(\delta\) Scuti stars, V775?Tau and V483?Tau, are analysed by using four-year high-precision photometric data of the STEREO satellite. Thus, it is aimed to gain new insights into behaviours of these pulsators and evolution of \(\delta\) Scuti, \(\gamma\) Dor and Am type stars. The data are taken between 2007–2011 and examined with the help of the Lomb–Scargle method. The detection precision in the four-year combined data is around \(10^{-5}\) cd^?1 in frequency and \(10^{-5}\) mag in amplitude. It is revealed that V775?Tau exhibits weak pulsation characteristic which is interpreted as the existence of the interaction between the helium loss in the partial ionization zone and pulsation intensities. It is also considered that the absence of strong pulsations is also related to the evolution status of the star. Further, its periodogram shows low-frequency peaks. If these oscillations are g-modes, V775?Tau can be thought to be one of the rare stars that show all \(\gamma\) Dor, \(\delta\) Scuti and Am type variations. V483?Tau is comparatively more luminous, hotter and has higher rotational velocity. Therefore, although it shares the same region with V775?Tau in the H–R diagram, it is not considered to be an Am star. Yet, it exactly overlaps with the \(\gamma\) Dor stars. These clues as well as g-modes detected in its periodogram indicate that V483?Tau is a hybrid star. Finally, both V775?Tau and V483?Tau display period changes whose rates are between \(10^{-3}\) and \(10^{-4}\) yr^?1. Considering the \(\delta\) Scuti nature, it may be speculated that these changes are non-evolutionary.     

An interacting new holographic dark energy in the framework of fractal cosmology

In this paper, we study an interacting holographic dark energy model in the framework of fractal cosmology. The features of fractal cosmology could pass ultraviolet divergencies and also make a better understanding of the universe in different dimensions. We discuss a fractal FRW universe filled with the dark energy and cold dark matter interacting with each other. It is observed that the Hubble parameter embraces the recent observational range while the deceleration parameter demonstrates an accelerating universe and a behavior similar to \(\Lambda \mbox{CDM}\). Plotting the equation of state shows that it lies in phantom region for interaction mode. We use \(\mathit{Om}\)-diagnostic tool and it shows a phantom behavior of dark energy which is a condition of avoiding the formation of black holes. Finally we execute the StateFinder diagnostic pair and all the trajectories for interacting and non-interacting state of the model meet the fixed point \(\Lambda \mbox{CDM}\) at the start of the evolution. A behavior similar to Chaplygin gas also can be observed in statefinder plane. We find that new holographic dark energy model (NHDE) in fractal cosmology expressed the consistent behavior with recent observational data and can be considered as a model to avoid the formation of black holes in comparison with the main model of NHDE in the simple FRW universe. It has also been observed that for the interaction term varying with matter density, the model generates asymptotic de-Sitter solution. However, if the interaction term varies with energy density, then the model shows Big-Rip singularity. Using our modified CAMB code, we observed that the interacting model suppresses the CMB spectrum at low multipoles \(l<50\) and enhances the acoustic peaks. Based on the observational data sets used in this paper and using Metropolis-Hastings method of MCMC numerical calculation, it seems that the best value with \(1\sigma \) and \(2\sigma \) confidence interval are \(\Omega _{m0}=0.278^{+0.008~+0.010} _{-0.007~-0.009}\), \(H_{0}=69.9^{+0.95~+1.57}_{-0.95~-1.57}\), \(r_{c}=0.08^{+0.02~+0.027}_{-0.002~-0.0027}\), \(\beta =0.496^{+0.005~+0.009} _{-0.005~-0.009}\), \(c= 0.691^{+0.024~+0.039}_{-0.025~-0.037}\) and \(b^{2}=0.035\) according to which we find that the proposed model in the presence of interaction is compatible with the recent observational data.     

Formation of Thorne–Żytkow objects in close binaries

Thorne–?ytkow objects (T?Os), originally proposed by Thorne and ?ytkow, may form as a result of unstable mass transfer in a massive X-ray binary after a neutron star (NS) is engulfed in the envelope of its companion star. Using a rapid binary evolution program and the Monte Carlo method, we simulated the formation of T?Os in close binary stars. The Galactic birth rate of T?Os is about \(1.5\times 10^{-4}~\hbox {yr}^{-1}\). Their progenitors may be composed of a NS and a main-sequence star, a star in the Hertzsprung gap or a core-helium burning, or a naked helium star. The birth rates of T?Os via the above different progenitors are \(1.7\times 10^{-5}\), \(1.2\times 10^{-4}\), \(0.7\times 10^{-5}\), \(0.6\times 10^{-5}~\hbox {yr}^{-1}\), respectively. These progenitors may be massive X-ray binaries. We found that the observational properties of three massive X-ray binaries (SMC X-1, Cen X-3 and LMC X-4) in which the companions of NSs may fill their Roche robes were consistent with those of their progenitors.     

Geomagnetic Effects of Corotating Interaction Regions

We present an analysis of the geoeffectiveness of corotating interaction regions (CIRs), employing the data recorded from 25 January to 5 May 2005 and throughout 2008. These two intervals in the declining phase of Solar Cycle 23 are characterised by a particularly low number of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). We study in detail how four geomagnetic-activity parameters (the Dst, Ap, and AE indices, as well as the Dst time derivative, \(\mathrm{dDst}/\mathrm{d}t\)) are related to three CIR-related solar wind parameters (flow speed, \(V\), magnetic field, \(B\), and the convective electric field based on the southward Geocentric solar magnetospheric (GSM) magnetic field component, \(\mathit{VB}_{s}\)) on a three-hour time resolution. In addition, we quantify statistical relationships between the mentioned geomagnetic indices. It is found that Dst is correlated best to \(V\), with a correlation coefficient of \(\mathrm{cc}\approx0.6\), whereas there is no correlation between \(\mathrm{dDst}/\mathrm{d}t\) and \(V\). The Ap and AE indices attain peaks about half a day before the maximum of \(V\), with correlation coefficients ranging from \(\mathrm{cc}\approx0.6\) to \(\mathrm{cc}\approx0.7\), depending on the sample used. The best correlations of Ap and AE are found with \(\mathit{VB}_{s}\) with a delay of 3 h, being characterised by \(\mathrm{cc}\gtrsim 0.6\). The Dst derivative \(\mathrm{dDst}/\mathrm{d}t\) is also correlated with \(\mathit{VB}_{s}\), but the correlation is significantly weaker \(\mathrm{cc}\approx 0.4\)?–?0.5, with a delay of 0?–?3 h, depending on the employed sample. Such low values of correlation coefficients indicate that there are other significant effects that influence the relationship between the considered parameters. The correlation of all studied geomagnetic parameters with \(B\) are characterised by considerably lower correlation coefficients, ranging from \(\mathrm{cc}=0.3\) in the case of \(\mathrm{dDst}/\mathrm{d}t\) up to \(\mathrm{cc}=0.56\) in the case of Ap. It is also shown that peak values of geomagnetic indices depend on the duration of the CIR-related structures. The Dst is closely correlated with Ap and AE (\(\mathrm{cc}=0.7\)), Dst being delayed for about 3 h. On the other hand, \(\mathrm{dDst}/\mathrm{d}t\) peaks simultaneously with Ap and AE, with correlation coefficients of 0.48 and 0.56, respectively. The highest correlation (\(\mathrm{cc}=0.81\)) is found for the relationship between Ap and AE.     

Star-formation rate in compact star-forming galaxies

We use the data for the \(\text{H}\beta\) emission-line, far-ultraviolet (FUV) and mid-infrared 22 μm continuum luminosities to estimate star formation rates \(\langle \mbox{SFR} \rangle \) averaged over the galaxy lifetime for a sample of about 14000 bursting compact star-forming galaxies (CSFGs) selected from the Data Release 12 (DR12) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The average coefficient linking \(\langle \mbox{SFR} \rangle \) and the star formation rate \(\mbox{SFR}_{0}\) derived from the \(\text{H}\beta\) luminosity at zero starburst age is found to be 0.04. We compare \(\langle \mbox{SFR} \rangle \mbox{s}\) with some commonly used SFRs which are derived adopting a continuous star formation during a period of \({\sim}\,100~\mbox{Myr}\), and find that the latter ones are 2–3 times higher. It is shown that the relations between SFRs derived using a geometric mean of two star-formation indicators in the UV and IR ranges and reduced to zero starburst age have considerably lower dispersion compared to those with single star-formation indicators. We suggest that our relations for \(\langle \mbox{SFR} \rangle \) determination are more appropriate for CSFGs because they take into account a proper temporal evolution of their luminosities. On the other hand, we show that commonly used SFR relations can be applied for approximate estimation within a factor of \({\sim}\,2\) of the \(\langle \mbox{SFR} \rangle \) averaged over the lifetime of the bursting compact galaxy.     

Nowcasting Solar Energetic Particle Events Using Principal Component Analysis

We perform a principal component analysis (PCA) on a set of six solar variables (i.e. width/size (\(s\)) and velocity (\(u\)) of a coronal mass ejection, logarithm of the solar flare (SF) magnitude (\(\log\mathit{SXRs}\)), SF longitude (\(\mathit{lon}\)), duration (\(\mathit{DT}\)), and rise time (\(\mathit{RT}\))). We classify the solar energetic particle (SEP) event radiation impact (in terms of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scales) with respect to the characteristics of their parent solar events. We further attempt to infer the possible prediction of SEP events. In our analysis, we use 126 SEP events with complete solar information, from 1997 to 2013. Each SEP event is a vector in six dimensions (corresponding to the six solar variables used in this work). The PCA transforms the input vectors into a set of orthogonal components. By mapping the characteristics of the parent solar events, a new base defined by these components led to the classification of the SEP events. We furthermore applied logistic regression analysis with single, as well as multiple explanatory variables, in order to develop a new index (\(I\)) for the nowcasting (short-term forecasting) of SEP events. We tested several different schemes for \(I\) and validated our findings with the implementation of categorical scores (probability of detection (POD) and false-alarm rate (FAR)). We present and interpret the obtained scores, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the different implementations. We show that \(I\) holds prognosis potential for SEP events. The maximum POD achieved is 77.78% and the relative FAR is 40.96%.     

Stellar parameters of the two binary systems: HIP 14075 and HIP 14230

We present the stellar parameters of the individual components of the two old close binary systems HIP 14075 and HIP 14230 using synthetic photometric analysis. These parameters are accurately calculated based on the best match between the synthetic photometric results within three different photometric systems with the observed photometry of the entire system. From the synthetic photometry, we derive the masses and radii of HIP 14075 as \({\mathcal {M}}^A=0.99\pm 0.19 \mathcal {M_\odot }\), \(R_{A}=0.877\pm 0.08 R_\odot \) for the primary and \({\mathcal {M}}^B=0.96\pm 0.15 \mathcal {M_\odot }\), \(R_{B}=0.821\pm 0.07 R_\odot \) for the secondary, and of HIP 14230 as \({\mathcal {M}}^A=1.18\pm 0.22 \mathcal {M_\odot }\), \(R_{A}=1.234\pm 0.05 R_\odot \) for the primary and \({\mathcal {M}}^B=0.84\pm 0.12 \mathcal {M_\odot }\) , \(R_{B}=0.820\pm 0.05 R_\odot \) for the secondary. Both systems depend on Gaia parallaxes. Based on the positions of the components of the two systems on a theoretical Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, we find that the age of HIP 14075 is \(11.5\pm 2.0\) Gyr and of HIP 14230 is \(3.5\pm 1.5\) Gyr. Our analysis reveals that both systems are old close binary systems (\(\approx > 4\) Gyr). Finally, the positions of the components of both the systems on the stellar evolutionary tracks and isochrones are discussed.     

Measurement of coronal properties of Seyfert galaxies from NuSTAR’s hard X-ray spectrum

Precise measurement of the coronal properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) requires the availability of high signal-to-noise ratio data covering a wide range of X-ray energies. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) which is highly sensitive to earlier missions in its operational energy range of 3–79 keV, allows us to arrive at precise estimates of the coronal parameters such as cut-off energy (\(E_\mathrm{cut}\)), coronal temperature (\(\textit{kT}_e\)) and geometry of the corona at least for sources that have \(E_\mathrm{cut}\) within the energy range of NuSTAR. In this paper, we present our preliminary results on the spectral analysis of two Seyfert galaxies namely 3C 120 and NGC 4151 using NuSTAR observations in the 3–79 keV band. We investigated the continuum and coronal parameters, the photon index \(\Gamma \), \(E_\mathrm{cut}\) and \(\textit{kT}_{e}\). By fitting the X-ray spectrum of 3C 120 and NGC 4151 with a simple phenomenological model, we found that both the sources showed a clear cut-off in their spectrum.     

Analysis of the exoplanet containing system Kepler-13

We have applied the close binary system analysis program WinFitter, with its physically detailed fitting function, to an intensive study of the complex multiple system Kepler-13 using photometry data from all 13 short cadence quarters downloaded from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (NEA) (http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu). The data-point error of our normalized, phase-sequenced and binned (380 points per bin: 0.00025 phase interval) flux values, at 14 ppm, allows the model’s specification for the mean reference flux level of the system to a precision better than 1 ppm. Our photometrically derived values for the mass and radius of KOI13.01 are \(6.8\pm0.6~\mbox{M}_{\mathrm{J}}\) and \(1.44\pm0.04~\mbox{R}_{\mathrm{J}}\). The star has a radius of \(1.67\pm0.05~\mbox{R}_{\odot}\). Our modelling sets the mean of the orbital inclination \(i\) at \(94.35\pm0.14^{\circ}\), with the star’s mean precession angle \(\phi_{p}\)—\(49.1\pm5.0^{\circ}\) and obliquity \(\theta_{o}\)\(67.9 \pm 3.0^{\circ}\), though there are known ambiguities about the sense in which such angles are measured.Our findings did not confirm secular variation in the transit modelling parameters greater than their full correlated errors, as argued by previous authors, when each quarter’s data was best-fitted with a determinable parameter set without prejudice. However, if we accept that most of the parameters remain the same for each transit, then we could confirm a small but steady diminution in the cosine of the orbital inclination over the 17 quarter timespan. This is accompanied by a slight increase of the star’s precession angle (less negative), but with no significant change in the obliquity of its spin axis. There are suggestions of a history of strong dynamical interaction with a highly distorted planet rotating in a 3:2 resonance with its revolution, together with a tidal lag of \(\sim30~\mbox{deg}\). The mean precessional period is derived to be about 1000 y, but at the present time the motion of the star’s rotation axis appears to be supporting the gravitational torque, rather than providing the balance against it that would be expected over long periods of time.The planet has a small but detectable backwarming effect on the star, which helps to explain the difference in brightness just after transit and just before occultation eclipses. In assessing these findings it is recognized that sources of uncertainty remain, notably with possible inherent micropulsational effects, variations from other components of the multiple star, stellar activity, differential rotation and the neglect of higher order terms (than \(r_{1}^{5}\)) in the fitting function, where \(r_{1}\) is the ratio of the radius of the star to the mean orbital separation of planet and host star.     

Observations of Three Stellar Occultations by Comet Hale–Bopp

On June 12 1996 UT, three 11–12 R magnitude stars were occulted by comet Hale–Bopp. The passage of these stars through the cometary atmosphere was monitored at the Observatorio do Pico dos Dias (Brazil) using a 0.6 m telescope. We detected an absorption of starlight by the comet dust implying in a drop of \((6\pm 1) \times 10^{-2}\) magnitude of occulted star XPM 152-0898466 at a minimum distance of (\(4.3 \pm 0.2)\times 10^{4}\) km from the central condensation. This result, combined with magnitude variations of other stars, suggests the detection of a jet in the coma. From our measurement of extinction, we infer that the opacity of the nucleus surface was \(\tau \sim 3\). The mean geometric albedo p of dust grains is \((4.5 \pm 0.7) \times 10^{-3}\). This low albedo may suggest a difference in the grain population associated to coma and jets.     

Orbit and physical characteristics of the components of the massive Algol V622 Per,a member of the open star cluster χ Per

Analysis of the radial velocities based on spectra of high (near the H _α line) and moderate (4420–4960 Å) resolutions supplemented by the published radial velocities has revealed the binarity of a bright member of the young open star cluster χ Per, the star V622 Per. The derived orbital elements of the binary show that the lines of both components are seen in its spectrum, the orbital period is 5.2 days, and the binary is in the phase of active mass exchange. The photometric variability of the star is caused by the ellipsoidal shape of its components. Analysis of the spectroscopic and photometric variabilities has allowed the absolute parameters of the binary’s orbit and its components to be found. V622 Per is shown to be a classical Algol with moderate mass exchange in the binary. Mass transfer occurs from the less massive (\({M_1} = 9.1 \pm 2.7{M_ \odot }\)) but brighter (\(\log {L_1} = 4.52 \pm 0.10{L_ \odot }\)) component onto the more massive (\({M_2} = 13.0 \pm 3.5{M_ \odot }\)) and less bright (\(\log {L_2} = 3.96 \pm 0.10{L_ \odot }\)) component. Analysis of the spectra has confirmed an appreciable overabundance of CNO-cycle products in the atmosphere of the primary component. Comparison of the positions of the binary’s components on the T _eff–log g diagram with the age of the cluster χ Per points to a possible delay in the evolution of the primary component due to mass loss by no more than 1–2Myr.     

Density variation effect on multi-ions with kinetic Alfven wave around cusp region—a kinetic approach

The kinetic Alfven waves in the presence of homogeneous magnetic field plasma with multi-ions effect are investigated. The dispersion relation and normalised damping rate are derived for low-\(\beta\) plasma using kinetic theory. The effect of density variation of \(\text{H}^{+}\), \(\text{He}^{+}\) and \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions is observed on frequency and damping rate of the wave. The variation of frequency (\(\omega\)) and normalised damping rate (\(\gamma / \varOmega_{H^{ +}} \)) of the wave are studied with respect to \(k_{ \bot} \rho_{j}\), where \(k_{ \bot} \) is the perpendicular wave number, \(\rho_{j}\) is the ion gyroradius and \(j \) denotes \(\text{H}^{+}\), \(\text{He}^{+}\) and \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions. The variation with \(k_{ \bot} \rho_{j}\) is considered over wide range. The parameters appropriate to cusp region are used for the explanation of results. It is found that with hydrogen and helium ions gyration, the frequency of wave is influenced by the density variation of \(\text{H}^{+}\) and \(\text{He}^{+}\) ions but remains insensitive to the change in density of \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions. For oxygen ion gyration, the frequency of wave varies over a short range only for \(\text{O}^{+}\) ion density variation. The wave shows damping at lower altitude due to variation in density of lighter \(\text{H}^{+}\) and \(\text{He}^{+}\) ions whereas at higher altitude only heavy \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions contribute in wave damping. The damping of wave may be due to landau damping or energy transfer from wave to particles. The present study signifies that the both lighter and heavier ions dominate differently to change the characteristics of kinetic Alfven wave and density variation is also an important parameter to understand wave phenomena in cusp region.     

The Most Intense Electron-Scale Current Sheets in the Solar Wind

Previous analysis of magnetohydrodynamic-scale currents in high-speed solar wind near 1 AU suggests that the most intense current-carrying structures occur at electron scales and are characterized by average current densities on the order of \(1~\mbox{pA}/\mbox{cm}^{2}\). Here, this prediction is verified by examining the effects of the measurement bandwidth and/or measurement resolution on the analysis of synthetic solar wind signals. Assuming Taylor’s hypothesis holds for the energetically dominant fluctuations at kinetic scales, the results show that when \(\nu_{c}\gg \nu_{b}\), where \(\nu_{c}\) is the measurement bandwidth and \(\nu_{b} \approx 1/3~\mbox{Hz}\) is the break frequency, the average scale of the most intense fluctuations in the current density proxy is approximately \(1/\nu_{c}\), and the average peak current density is a weakly increasing function that scales approximately like \(\nu_{c}^{0.1}\).     

Dust color temperature distribution of two FIR cavities at IRIS and AKARI maps

By systematically searching the region of far infrared loops, we found a number of huge cavity-like dust structures at \(60\,\mu \hbox {m}\) and \(100\,\mu \hbox {m}\) IRIS maps. By checking these with AKARI maps (\(90\,\mu \hbox {m}\) and \(140\,\mu \hbox {m}\)), two new cavity-like structures (sizes \(\sim \) \( 2.7\,\hbox {pc} \times 0.8\,\hbox {pc}\) and \(\sim \) \( 1.8\,\hbox {pc} \times 1\,\hbox {pc}\)) located at R.A. (\(\hbox {J}2000)=14^{h}41^{m}23^{s}\) and Dec. \((\hbox {J}2000)=-64^{\circ }04^{\prime }17^{{\prime }{\prime }}\) and R.A. \((\hbox {J}2000)=05^{h}05^{m}35^{s}\) and Dec. \((\hbox {J}2000)=-\,69^{\circ }35^{\prime } 25^{{\prime }{\prime }}\) were selected for the study. The difference in the average dust color temperatures calculated using IRIS and AKARI maps of the cavity candidates were found to be \(3.2\pm 0.9\,\hbox {K}\) and \(4.1\pm 1.2\,\hbox {K}\), respectively. Interestingly, the longer wavelength AKARI map gives larger values of dust color temperature than that of the shorter wavelength IRIS maps. Possible explanation of the results will be presented.     

Mid-infrared variability of blazars: a view from NEOWISE survey

We studied mid-infrared (MIR) variability of a large sample of blazars detected by LAT/Fermi (called Fermi-detected blazars) and those not detected by LAT/Fermi (called non-Fermi-detected blazars) in order to investigate any difference in the variability characteristics between them as well as between FSRQs and BL Lacs. Making use of NEOWISE archival data from October 2013 to December 2017, we constructed the long-term 3.4 μm and 4.6 μm light curves of 2,573 blazars and computed their intrinsic variability amplitudes, \(\varPsi \). As a result, we found that (1) Fermi-detected blazars show higher \(\varPsi \) than non-Fermi-detected blazars; (2) Fermi-detected FSRQs show higher \(\varPsi \) than non-Fermi-detected FSRQs; (3) Fermi-detected BL Lacs show higher \(\varPsi \) than non-Fermi-detected BL Lacs; (4) FSRQs show higher \(\varPsi \) than BL Lacs. By comparing their distributions of “\(\mathit{var}\_\mathit{flg}\)” in the ALLWISE database, we also found that Fermi-detected blazars/FSRQs/BL Lacs tend to be more variable than non-Fermi-detected blazars/FSRQs/BL Lacs. For the Fermi-detected blazars, there are highly significant correlations between the flux densities and spectral indices in the MIR and gamma-ray bands. These results imply that the activity in the two bands is connected. Our results are consistent with several earlier results on the differences between Fermi-detected blazars and non-Fermi-detected blazars. We also give some possible explanations about the statistical results.     

Deuterium chemistry in the young massive protostellar core NGC 2264 CMM3

In this work we present the first attempt of modelling the deuterium chemistry in the massive young protostellar core NGC 2264 CMM3. We investigated the sensitivity of this chemistry to the physical conditions in its surrounding environment. The results showed that deuteration, in the protostellar gas, is affected by variations in the core density, the amount of gas depletion onto grain surfaces, the CR ionisation rate, but it is insensitive to variations in the H₂ ortho-to-para ratio.Our results, also, showed that deuteration is often enhanced in less-dense, partially depleted (\(<85\%\)), or cores that are exerted to high CR ionisation rates (\(\ge6.5\times10^{-17}~\mbox{s}^{-1}\)). However, in NGC 2264 CMM3, decreasing the amount of gas depleted onto grains and enhancing the CR ionisation rate are often overestimating the observed values in the core. The best fit time to observations occurs around \((1\mbox{--}5) \times 10^{4}~\mbox{yrs}\) for core densities in the range \((1\mbox{--}5)\times10^{6}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\) with CR ionisation rate between \((1.7\mbox{--}6.5)\times10^{-17}~\mbox{s}^{-1}\). These values are in agreement with the results of the most recent theoretical chemical model of CMM3, and the time range of best fit is, also, in-line with the estimated age of young protostellar objects.We conclude that deuterium chemistry in protostellar cores is: (i) sensitive to variations in the physical conditions in its environment, (ii) insensitive to changes in the H₂ ortho-to-para ratio. We also conclude that the core NGC 2264 CMM3 is in its early stages of chemical evolution with an estimated age of \((1\mbox{--}5)\times10^{4}~\mbox{yrs}\).