Search Publications
Sulfur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b
Carter, Aarynn L.; Sing, David K.; Batalha, Natalie M. +70 more
The recent inference of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere of the hot (approximately 1,100 K), Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b from near-infrared JWST observations1-3 suggests that photochemistry is a key process in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres4. This is because of the low (<1 ppb) abundance of SO
Quasi-periodic X-ray eruptions years after a nearby tidal disruption event
Berger, E.; Angus, C. R.; Dhillon, V. S. +61 more
Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are luminous bursts of soft X-rays from the nuclei of galaxies, repeating on timescales of hours to weeks1–5. The mechanism behind these rare systems is uncertain, but most theories involve accretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) undergoing instabilities6–8 or interacting with a…
A nebular origin for the persistent radio emission of fast radio bursts
Tripodi, Roberta; Savaglio, Sandra; Zhang, Bing +12 more
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration, bright (approximately Jy) extragalactic bursts, whose production mechanism is still unclear1. Recently, two repeating FRBs were found to have a physically associated persistent radio source of non-thermal origin2,3. These two FRBs have unusually large Faraday rotation measure…
A warm Neptune's methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing
Sing, David K.; Maiolino, Roberto; Valenti, Jeff A. +18 more
Observations of transiting gas giant exoplanets have revealed a pervasive depletion of methane1-4, which has only recently been identified atmospherically5,6. The depletion is thought to be maintained by disequilibrium processes such as photochemistry or mixing from a hotter interior7-9. However, the interiors are …
Preferential occurrence of fast radio bursts in massive star-forming galaxies
Leja, Joel; Somalwar, Jean; Hallinan, Gregg +24 more
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration events detected from beyond the Milky Way. FRB emission characteristics favour highly magnetized neutron stars, or magnetars, as the sources1, as evidenced by FRB-like bursts from a galactic magnetar2,3, and the star-forming nature of FRB host galaxies4,5. However, …
A magnetar giant flare in the nearby starburst galaxy M82
Thuillot, William; Mereghetti, Sandro; Esposito, Paolo +32 more
Magnetar giant flares are rare explosive events releasing up to 1047 erg in gamma rays in less than 1 second from young neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 1015−16 G (refs. 1,2). Only three such flares have been seen from magnetars in our Galaxy3,4 and in the Large Magellanic Cloud5 in ro…
The Radcliffe Wave is oscillating
Alves, João; Zucker, Catherine; Goodman, Alyssa A. +6 more
Our Sun lies within 300 parsecs of the 2.7-kiloparsecs-long sinusoidal chain of dense gas clouds known as the Radcliffe Wave1. The structure's wave-like shape was discovered using three-dimensional dust mapping, but initial kinematic searches for oscillatory motion were inconclusive2-7. Here we present evidence that the Radcl…
Lense-Thirring precession after a supermassive black hole disrupts a star
Loewenstein, Michael; Pasham, Dheeraj R.; Guolo, Muryel +8 more
An accretion disk formed around a supermassive black hole after it disrupts a star is expected to be initially misaligned with respect to the equatorial plane of the black hole. This misalignment induces relativistic torques (the Lense-Thirring effect) on the disk, causing the disk to precess at early times, whereas at late times the disk aligns w…
Hydrogen sulfide and metal-enriched atmosphere for a Jupiter-mass exoplanet
Deming, Drake; Sing, David K.; Fu, Guangwei +15 more
As the closest transiting hot Jupiter to Earth, HD 189733b has been the benchmark planet for atmospheric characterization1–3. It has also been the anchor point for much of our theoretical understanding of exoplanet atmospheres from composition4, chemistry5,6, aerosols7 to atmospheric dynamics8…
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn's moon Mimas
Lainey, V.; Noyelles, B.; Rambaux, N. +4 more
Moons potentially harbouring a global ocean are tending to become relatively common objects in the Solar System1. The presence of these long-lived global oceans is generally betrayed by surface modification owing to internal dynamics2. Hence, Mimas would be the most unlikely place to look for the presence of a global ocean