Search Publications
Insights into star formation and dispersal from the synchronization of stellar clocks
Alves, João; Barrado, David; Burkert, Andreas +3 more
Age is one of the most fundamental parameters of a star, yet it is one of the hardest to determine as it requires modelling various aspects of stellar formation and evolution. When we compare the ages derived from isochronal and dynamical traceback methods for six young stellar associations, we find a systematic discrepancy. Specifically, dynamica…
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
Filippenko, Alexei V.; Han, Zhanwen; Chen, Xuefei +28 more
Binary evolution theory predicts that the second common envelope ejection can produce low-mass (0.32-0.36 M⊙) subdwarf B (sdB) stars inside ultrashort-orbital-period binary systems, as their helium cores are ignited under nondegenerate conditions. With the orbital decay driven by gravitational-wave (GW) radiation, the minimum orbital pe…
Constraints on the dense matter equation of state from young and cold isolated neutron stars
Rea, N.; Marino, A.; Pons, J. A. +3 more
Neutron stars are the dense and highly magnetic relics of supernova explosions of massive stars. The quest to constrain the equation of state (EOS) of ultradense matter and thereby probe the behaviour of matter inside neutron stars is one of the core goals of modern physics and astrophysics. A promising method involves investigating the long-term …
Chemical tracers of a highly eccentric AGB-main-sequence star binary
Menten, K. M.; Pinte, C.; Sahai, R. +32 more
Binary interactions have been proposed to explain a variety of circumstellar structures seen around evolved stars, including asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and planetary nebulae. Studies resolving the circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars have revealed spirals, disks and bipolar outflows, with shaping attributed to interactions with a companio…
Detection of the elusive dangling OH ice features at ~2.7 µm in Chamaeleon I with JWST NIRCam
Sun, F.; Egami, E.; Rocha, W. R. M. +31 more
Ascertaining the morphology and composition of the icy mantles covering dust grains in dense, cold regions of the interstellar medium is essential to developing accurate astrochemical models, determining conditions for ice formation, constraining chemical interactions in and on icy grains and understanding how ices withstand space radiation. The w…
Evidence for morning-to-evening limb asymmetry on the cool low-density exoplanet WASP-107 b
Fortney, Jonathan J.; Bell, Taylor J.; Line, Michael R. +8 more
The atmospheric properties of hot exoplanets are expected to be different between the morning and the evening limbs due to their global atmospheric circulation. Ground-based observations at high spectral resolution have detected this limb asymmetry in several ultra-hot (>2,000 K) exoplanets, but the prevalence of the phenomenon in the broader e…
Atmospheric carbon depletion as a tracer of water oceans and biomass on temperate terrestrial exoplanets
Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Seager, Sara; Rackham, Benjamin V. +9 more
The conventional observables to identify a habitable or inhabited environment in exoplanets, such as an ocean glint or abundant atmospheric O2, will be challenging to detect with present or upcoming observatories. Here we suggest a new signature. A low carbon abundance in the atmosphere of a temperate rocky planet, relative to other pla…
The accretion of a solar mass per day by a 17-billion solar mass black hole
Wolf, Christian; Lai, Samuel; Bian, Fuyan +5 more
Around a million quasars have been catalogued in the Universe by probing deeper and using new methods for discovery. However, the hardest ones to find seem to be the rarest and brightest specimens. Here we study the properties of the most luminous of all quasars found so far. These have been overlooked until recently, which demonstrates that moder…
A magnetized Galactic halo from inner Galaxy outflows
Morris, Mark R.; Zhang, Yi; Carretti, Ettore +12 more
Magnetic halos of galaxies are crucial for understanding galaxy evolution, galactic-scale outflows and feedback from star formation activity. Identifying the magnetized halo of the Milky Way is challenging because of the potential contamination from foreground emission arising in local spiral arms. In addition, it is unclear how our magnetic halo …
An emission map of the disk-circumgalactic medium transition in starburst IRAS 08339+6517
Kacprzak, Glenn G.; Sandstrom, Karin M.; Chisholm, John +5 more
Most of a galaxy's mass is located beyond its stellar component, spread out to hundreds of kiloparsecs. This diffuse reservoir of gas, the circumgalactic medium, acts as the interface between a galaxy and the cosmic web that connects galaxies. We present kiloparsec-scale-resolution integral field spectroscopy of emission lines that trace cool ioni…