Search Publications
Magnetar spin-down glitch clearing the way for FRB-like bursts and a pulsed radio episode
Lin, L.; Kouveliotou, C.; Baring, M. G. +16 more
Magnetars are a special subset of the isolated neutron star family, with X-ray and radio emission mainly powered by the decay of their immense magnetic fields. Many attributes of magnetars remain poorly understood: spin-down glitches or the sudden reductions in the star's angular momentum, radio bursts reminiscent of extragalactic fast radio burst…
The Milky Way's plane of satellites is consistent with ΛCDM
Jenkins, Adrian; Frenk, Carlos; Helly, John +7 more
The Milky Way is surrounded by 11 `classical' satellite galaxies in a remarkable configuration: a thin plane that is possibly rotationally supported. Such a structure is thought to be highly unlikely to arise in the standard (ΛCDM) cosmological model (Λ cold dark matter model, where Λ is the cosmological constant). While other apparent discrepanci…
A calibration point for stellar evolution from massive star asteroseismology
Bowman, Dominic M.; Vanderspek, Roland; Aerts, Conny +10 more
Massive stars are progenitors of supernovae, neutron stars and black holes. During the hydrogen-core burning phase, their convective cores are the prime drivers of their evolution, but inferences of core masses are subject to unconstrained boundary mixing processes. Moreover, uncalibrated transport mechanisms can lead to strong envelope mixing and…
Sub-per-cent determination of the brightness at the tip of the red giant branch in the Magellanic Clouds
Hoyt, Taylor J.
The value of the Hubble constant as constrained by type Ia supernovae is directly tied to the zero point of the extragalactic distance scale, which is in turn set by the calibration of astrophysical distance indicators such as the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). In this article, a calibration of the TRGB luminosity is determined in the Magella…
A 5.3-min-period pulsing white dwarf in a binary detected from radio to X-rays
Kepler, S. O.; Heywood, I.; Dhillon, V. S. +19 more
White dwarf stars are the most common stellar fossils. When in binaries, they make up the dominant form of compact object binary within the Galaxy and can offer insight into different aspects of binary formation and evolution. One of the most remarkable white dwarf binary systems identified to date is AR Scorpii (AR Sco). AR Sco is composed of an …
Coherent radio bursts from known M-dwarf planet-host YZ Ceti
Pineda, J. Sebastian; Villadsen, Jackie
Observing magnetic star-planet interactions (SPIs) offers promise for determining the magnetic fields of exoplanets. Models of sub-Alfvénic SPIs predict that terrestrial planets in close-in orbits around M dwarfs can induce detectable stellar radio emission, manifesting as bursts of strongly polarized coherent radiation observable at specific plan…
A long-duration gamma-ray burst of dynamical origin from the nucleus of an ancient galaxy
Fruchter, Andrew S.; Heintz, Kasper E.; Jonker, Peter G. +29 more
The majority of long-duration (>2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arise from the collapse of massive stars, with a small proportion created from the merger of compact objects. Most of these systems form via standard stellar evolution pathways. However, a fraction of GRBs may result from dynamical interactions in dense environments. These channels co…
JWST molecular mapping and characterization of Enceladus' water plume feeding its torus
Villanueva, G. L.; Liuzzi, G.; Stansberry, J. +18 more
Enceladus is a prime target in the search for life in our Solar System, having an active plume that is likely to be connected to a large liquid water sub-surface ocean. Using the sensitive near-infrared spectograph instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope, we searched for organic compounds and characterized the plume's composition and st…
Spatially resolved imaging of the inner Fomalhaut disk using JWST/MIRI
Rieke, George H.; Gáspár, András; Beichman, Charles +9 more
Planetary debris disks around other stars are analogous to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in the Solar System. Their structure reveals the configuration of small bodies and provides hints for the presence of planets. The nearby star Fomalhaut hosts one of the most prominent debris disks, resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, Herschel and…
Direct images and spectroscopy of a giant protoplanet driving spiral arms in MWC 758.
Dong, Ruobing; Wagner, Kevin; Stone, Jordan +23 more
Understanding the driving forces behind spiral arms in protoplanetary disks remains a challenge due to the faintness of young giant planets. MWC 758 hosts such a protoplanetary disk with a two-armed spiral pattern that is suggested to be driven by an external giant planet. We present observations in the thermal infrared that are uniquely sensitive…