Search Publications
Peering into the formation history of β Pictoris b with VLTI/GRAVITY long-baseline interferometry
Förster Schreiber, N. M.; Genzel, R.; Sturm, E. +65 more
Context. β Pictoris is arguably one of the most studied stellar systems outside of our own. Some 30 yr of observations have revealed a highly-structured circumstellar disk, with rings, belts, and a giant planet: β Pictoris b. However very little is known about how this system came into being.
Aims: Our objective is to estimate the C/O ratio i…
A White Dwarf with Transiting Circumstellar Material Far outside the Roche Limit
Hermes, J. J.; Montgomery, M. H.; Winget, D. E. +9 more
We report the discovery of a white dwarf exhibiting deep, irregularly shaped transits, indicative of circumstellar planetary debris. Using Zwicky Transient Facility DR2 photometry of ZTF J013906.17+524536.89 and follow-up observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory, we identify multiple transit events that recur every ≈107.2 days, much longer th…
The Lazy Giants: APOGEE Abundances Reveal Low Star Formation Efficiencies in the Magellanic Clouds
Cohen, Roger E.; Cunha, Katia; Smith, Verne V. +28 more
We report the first APOGEE metallicities and α-element abundances measured for 3600 red giant stars spanning a large radial range of both the Large (LMC) and Small Magellanic Clouds, the largest Milky Way (MW) dwarf galaxies. Our sample is an order of magnitude larger than that of previous studies and extends to much larger radial distances. These…
Polarimetric imaging mode of VLT/SPHERE/IRDIS. II. Characterization and correction of instrumental polarization effects
Ménard, F.; Henning, T.; Fantinel, D. +31 more
Context. Circumstellar disks and self-luminous giant exoplanets or companion brown dwarfs can be characterized through direct-imaging polarimetry at near-infrared wavelengths. SPHERE/IRDIS at the Very Large Telescope has the capabilities to perform such measurements, but uncalibrated instrumental polarization effects limit the attainable polarimet…
The Solar Orbiter Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument
Hellinger, P.; André, M.; Maksimovic, M. +103 more
The Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission is described in this paper. This instrument is designed to measure in-situ magnetic and electric fields and waves from the continuous to a few hundreds of kHz. RPW will also observe solar radio emissions up to 16 MHz. The RPW instrument is of primary importance to the Sol…
The Solar Orbiter SPICE instrument. An extreme UV imaging spectrometer
Vial, J. -C.; Williams, D.; Peter, H. +87 more
Aims: The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a high-resolution imaging spectrometer operating at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. In this paper, we present the concept, design, and pre-launch performance of this facility instrument on the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission.
Methods: The goal of this paper is to…
H0LiCOW XII. Lens mass model of WFI2033-4723 and blind measurement of its time-delay distance and H0
Treu, Tommaso; Marshall, Philip J.; Sonnenfeld, Alessandro +15 more
We present the lens mass model of the quadruply-imaged gravitationally lensed quasar WFI2033 - 4723, and perform a blind cosmographical analysis based on this system. Our analysis combines (1) time-delay measurements from 14 yr of data obtained by the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses (COSMOGRAIL) collaboration, (2) high-resolution H…
Resonance locking in giant planets indicated by the rapid orbital expansion of Titan
Fuller, Jim; Modenini, Dario; Tortora, Paolo +8 more
Saturn is orbited by dozens of moons, and the intricate dynamics of this complex system provide clues about its formation and evolution. Tidal friction within Saturn causes its moons to migrate outwards, driving them into orbital resonances that pump their eccentricities or inclinations, which in turn leads to tidal heating of the moons. However, …
The Complete Redshift Distribution of Dusty Star-forming Galaxies from the SPT-SZ Survey
Béthermin, M.; Weiss, A.; Greve, T. R. +21 more
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) has systematically identified 81 high-redshift, strongly gravitationally lensed, dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) in a 2500 square degree cosmological millimeter-wave survey. We present the final spectroscopic redshift survey of this flux-limited (S870 µm > 25 mJy) sample, initially selected at…
Primordial black holes and secondary gravitational waves from k and G inflation
Gao, Qing; Zhang, Chao; Gong, Yungui +3 more
The possibility that in the mass range around 10-12 M⊙ most of dark matter is constituted of primordial black holes (PBHs) is a very interesting topic. To produce PBHs with this mass, the primordial scalar power spectrum needs to be enhanced to the order of 0.01 at the scale k ∼1012 Mpc-1. The enhanced p…