Constraining High-energy Neutrino Emission from Supernovae with IceCube

Nature Physics

Neutrino oscillations at the highest energies and longest baselines can be used to study the structure of spacetime and test the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. If the metric of spacetime has a quantum mechanical description, its fluctuations at the Planck scale are expected to introduce non-unitary effects that are inconsistent with the standard unitary time evolution of quantum mechanics. Neutrinos interacting with such fluctuations would lose their quantum coherence, deviating from the expected oscillatory flavour composition at long distances and high energies. Here we use atmospheric neutrinos detected by the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory in the energy range of 0.5-10.0 TeV to search for coherence loss in neutrino propagation. We find no evidence of anomalous neutrino decoherence and determine limits on neutrino-quantum gravity interactions. The constraint on the effective decoherence strength parameter within an energy-independent decoherence model improves on previous limits by a factor of 30. For decoherence effects scaling as E2, our limits are advanced by more than six orders of magnitude beyond past measurements compared with the state of the art. Interactions of atmospheric neutrinos with quantum-gravity-induced fluctuations of the metric of spacetime would lead to decoherence. The IceCube Collaboration constrains such interactions with atmospheric neutrinos.

arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.19589

More than 10,000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with a diameter of 80 mm will be installed in multi-PMT Digital Optical Modules (mDOMs) of the IceCube Upgrade. These have been tested and pre-calibrated at two sites. A throughput of more than 1000 PMTs per week with both sites was achieved with a modular design of the testing facilities and highly automated testing procedures. The testing facilities can easily be adapted to other PMTs, such that they can, e.g., be re-used for testing the PMTs for IceCube-Gen2. Single photoelectron response, high voltage dependence, time resolution, prepulse, late pulse, afterpulse probabilities, and dark rates were measured for each PMT. We describe the design of the testing facilities, the testing procedures, and the results of the acceptance tests.

arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.04857

Monochromatic gamma-ray signals constitute a potential smoking gun signature for annihilating or decaying dark matter particles that could relatively easily be distinguished from astrophysical or instrumental backgrounds. We provide an updated assessment of the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to such signals, based on observations of the Galactic centre region as well as of selected dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that current limits and detection prospects for dark matter masses above 300 GeV will be significantly improved, by up to an order of magnitude in the multi-TeV range. This demonstrates that CTA will set a new standard for gamma-ray astronomy also in this respect, as the world's largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory, in particular due to its exquisite energy resolution at TeV energies and the adopted observational strategy focussing on regions with large dark matter densities. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date instrument response functions, and we thoroughly model the effect of instrumental systematic uncertainties in our statistical treatment. We further present results for other potential signatures with sharp spectral features, e.g.~box-shaped spectra, that would likewise very clearly point to a particle dark matter origin.

VizieR Online Data Catalog

We compile the neutrino alert catalog by applying the procedures of event selection described in Section 3 followed by likelihood scans on IceCube data going back to 2011 May.

arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.11994

Name that Neutrino is a citizen science project where volunteers aid in classification of events for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an immense particle detector at the geographic South Pole. From March 2023 to September 2023, volunteers did classifications of videos produced from simulated data of both neutrino signal and background interactions. Name that Neutrino obtained more than 128,000 classifications by over 1,800 registered volunteers that were compared to results obtained by a deep neural network machine-learning algorithm. Possible improvements for both Name that Neutrino and the deep neural network are discussed.

The Astrophysical Journal

IceCube alert events are neutrinos with a moderate-to-high probability of having astrophysical origin. In this study, we analyze 11 yr of IceCube data and investigate 122 alert events and a selection of high-energy tracks detected between 2009 and the end of 2021. This high-energy event selection (alert events+ high-energy tracks) has an average probability of 0.5 of being of astrophysical origin. We search for additional continuous and transient neutrino emission within the high-energy events’ error regions. We find no evidence for significant continuous neutrino emission from any of the alert event directions. The only locally significant neutrino emission is the transient emission associated with the blazar TXS0506+ 056, with a local significance of 3σ, which confirms previous IceCube studies. When correcting for 122 test positions, the global p-value is 0.156 and compatible with the background hypothesis. We …

The normalized differential cross section for top quark pair (tt¯) production is measured in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8TeV at the CERN LHC using the CMS detector in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7fb-1. The measurements are performed in the lepton+jets (e/μ++jets) and in the dilepton e+e-, μ+μ-, and e±μ∓) decay channels. The tt¯ cross section is measured as a function of the kinematic properties of the charged leptons, the jets associated to b quarks, the top quarks, and the tt¯ system. The data are compared with several predictions from perturbative quantum chromodynamic up to approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order precision. No significant deviations are observed relative to the standard model predictions. © 2015, CERN for the benefit of the CMS collaboration.

The Astrophysical Journal

IceCube alert events are neutrinos with a moderate-to-high probability of having astrophysical origin. In this study, we analyze 11 yr of IceCube data and investigate 122 alert events and a selection of high-energy tracks detected between 2009 and the end of 2021. This high-energy event selection (alert events+ high-energy tracks) has an average probability of 0.5 of being of astrophysical origin. We search for additional continuous and transient neutrino emission within the high-energy events’ error regions. We find no evidence for significant continuous neutrino emission from any of the alert event directions. The only locally significant neutrino emission is the transient emission associated with the blazar TXS0506+ 056, with a local significance of 3σ, which confirms previous IceCube studies. When correcting for 122 test positions, the global p-value is 0.156 and compatible with the background hypothesis. We …

The Astronomer's Telegram

The IceCube Collaboration (http://icecube. wisc. edu/) reports: IceCube has performed a search for track-like muon neutrino events arriving from the direction of the blazar 1ES 1959+ 650, which is flaring in the TeV and MeV-GeV gamma-ray bands (LHAASO ATel# 16437 and Fermi-LAT ATel# 16456, respectively), as well as in soft X-rays (Swift XRT ATel# 16449).

American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts

The present decade will be marked by growth of large survey catalogs, both in their number and scale. Joint analysis of such catalogs has historically shown itself to be tremendously useful (eg enabling multi-wavelength or time-domain studies), with its importance likely to rise even further. Yet, with the increase in scale towards PBs of data, joint analysis—even at a catalog level—becomes a complex data management problem that few astronomers are equipped to tackle with present-day technology. We present HiPSCat, a format for efficient and queryable storage of large datasets, and LSDB (Large Survey DataBase), a Python framework that enables distributed cross-matching and analysis of astronomical datasets at LSST scale (O (10B) sources). The HiPSCat format, framework-independent and built as an extension of the well-known IVOA HIPS standard, provides intelligent (balanced) spatial partitioning and …

Nature Physics

Neutrino oscillations at the highest energies and longest baselines can be used to study the structure of spacetime and test the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. If the metric of spacetime has a quantum mechanical description, its fluctuations at the Planck scale are expected to introduce non-unitary effects that are inconsistent with the standard unitary time evolution of quantum mechanics. Neutrinos interacting with such fluctuations would lose their quantum coherence, deviating from the expected oscillatory flavour composition at long distances and high energies. Here we use atmospheric neutrinos detected by the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory in the energy range of 0.5-10.0 TeV to search for coherence loss in neutrino propagation. We find no evidence of anomalous neutrino decoherence and determine limits on neutrino-quantum gravity interactions. The constraint on the effective decoherence strength parameter within an energy-independent decoherence model improves on previous limits by a factor of 30. For decoherence effects scaling as E2, our limits are advanced by more than six orders of magnitude beyond past measurements compared with the state of the art. Interactions of atmospheric neutrinos with quantum-gravity-induced fluctuations of the metric of spacetime would lead to decoherence. The IceCube Collaboration constrains such interactions with atmospheric neutrinos.

VizieR Online Data Catalog

We compile the neutrino alert catalog by applying the procedures of event selection described in Section 3 followed by likelihood scans on IceCube data going back to 2011 May.

Physical Review Letters

We report on a measurement of astrophysical tau neutrinos with 9.7 yr of IceCube data. Using convolutional neural networks trained on images derived from simulated events, seven candidate ν τ events were found with visible energies ranging from roughly 20 TeV to 1 PeV and a median expected parent ν τ energy of about 200 TeV. Considering backgrounds from astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos, and muons from π±/K±decays in atmospheric air showers, we obtain a total estimated background of about 0.5 events, dominated by non-ν τ astrophysical neutrinos. Thus, we rule out the absence of astrophysical ν τ at the 5 σ level. The measured astrophysical ν τ flux is consistent with expectations based on previously published IceCube astrophysical neutrino flux measurements and neutrino oscillations.

arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.18026

A measurement of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino spectrum is presented using IceCube data collected from 2011-2022 (10.3 years). We developed novel detection techniques to search for events with a contained vertex and exiting track induced by muon neutrinos undergoing a charged-current interaction. Searching for these starting track events allows us to not only more effectively reject atmospheric muons but also atmospheric neutrino backgrounds in the southern sky, opening a new window to the sub-100 TeV astrophysical neutrino sky. The event selection is constructed using a dynamic starting track veto and machine learning algorithms. We use this data to measure the astrophysical diffuse flux as a single power law flux (SPL) with a best-fit spectral index of and per-flavor normalization of $\phi^{\mathrm{Astro}}_{\mathrm{per-flavor}} = 1.68 ^{+0.19}_{-0.22} \times 10^{-18} \times \mathrm{GeV}^{-1} \mathrm{cm}^{-2} \mathrm{s}^{-1} \mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ (at 100 TeV). The sensitive energy range for this dataset is 3 - 550 TeV under the SPL assumption. This data was also used to measure the flux under a broken power law, however we did not find any evidence of a low energy cutoff.

The Astrophysical Journal

We present the results of a search for 10–1000 GeV neutrinos from 2268 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) over 8 yr of IceCube-DeepCore data. This work probes burst physics below the photosphere where electromagnetic radiation cannot escape. Neutrinos of tens of giga electronvolts are predicted in sub-photospheric collision of free-streaming neutrons with bulk-jet protons. In a first analysis, we searched for the most significant neutrino-GRB coincidence using six overlapping time windows centered on the prompt phase of each GRB. In a second analysis, we conducted a search for a group of GRBs, each individually too weak to be detectable, but potentially significant when combined. No evidence of neutrino emission is found for either analysis. The most significant neutrino coincidence is for Fermi-GBM GRB bn 140807500, with a p-value of 0.097 corrected for all trials. The binomial test used to search for a group of …

arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.19589

More than 10,000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with a diameter of 80 mm will be installed in multi-PMT Digital Optical Modules (mDOMs) of the IceCube Upgrade. These have been tested and pre-calibrated at two sites. A throughput of more than 1000 PMTs per week with both sites was achieved with a modular design of the testing facilities and highly automated testing procedures. The testing facilities can easily be adapted to other PMTs, such that they can, e.g., be re-used for testing the PMTs for IceCube-Gen2. Single photoelectron response, high voltage dependence, time resolution, prepulse, late pulse, afterpulse probabilities, and dark rates were measured for each PMT. We describe the design of the testing facilities, the testing procedures, and the results of the acceptance tests.

arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.02470

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory relies on an array of photomultiplier tubes to detect Cherenkov light produced by charged particles in the South Pole ice. IceCube data analyses depend on an in-depth characterization of the glacial ice, and on novel approaches in event reconstruction that utilize fast approximations of photoelectron yields. Here, a more accurate model is derived for event reconstruction that better captures our current knowledge of ice optical properties. When evaluated on a Monte Carlo simulation set, the median angular resolution for in-ice particle showers improves by over a factor of three compared to a reconstruction based on a simplified model of the ice. The most substantial improvement is obtained when including effects of birefringence due to the polycrystalline structure of the ice. When evaluated on data classified as particle showers in the high-energy starting events sample, a significantly improved description of the events is observed.

Bulletin of the American Physical Society

The Cygnus Cocoon is among the most luminous extended galactic γ-ray sources. It has been observed by various instruments, including Fermi, ARGO, HAWC, and most recently, LHAASO, detecting photons with energies up to~ 1.4 PeV. Confirming the hadronic origin of these high-energy photons relies on detecting a neutrino excess. Our study focuses on searching for electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos originating from the direction of the Cygnus Cocoon, utilizing data collected at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Additionally, we will present results obtained from template-based measurements of galactic diffuse neutrinos, using all three neutrino flavors.

The Astrophysical Journal

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has been continuously taking data to search for

Cureus

Total hip replacement (THR) is commonly performed to treat hip fractures. Dual-mobility constructs (DMCs) are increasingly used for this indication. The aim of this study was to use evidence synthesis techniques to estimate net all-cause construct survival for THR with DMC performed for hip fracture. Additionally, we aimed to investigate and describe differences in all-cause construct survival (if present) between THRs performed with DMC (DMC-THR) or with a conventional bearing construct following hip fracture.We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies (including joint registries), including DMC-THR for hip fracture which provided Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival estimates. The primary outcome was all-cause construct survival over time. The study was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020173117).

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

In this Letter, we report the discovery of the highest redshift, heavily obscured, radio-loud (RL) active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidate selected using JWST NIRCam/MIRI, mid-IR, submillimeter, and radio imaging in the COSMOS-Web field. Using multifrequency radio observations and mid-IR photometry, we identify a powerful, RL, growing supermassive black hole with significant spectral steepening of the radio spectral energy distribution (f 1.28 GHz∼ 2 mJy, q 24 μm=− 1.1, α 1.28− 3 GHz=− 1.2, Δα=− 0.4). In conjunction with ALMA, deep ground-based observations, ancillary space-based data, and the unprecedented resolution and sensitivity of JWST, we find no evidence of AGN contribution to the UV/optical/near-infrared (NIR) data and thus infer heavy amounts of obscuration (N H> 10 23 cm− 2). Using the wealth of deep UV to submillimeter photometric data, we report a singular solution photo-z of z phot=

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Stars that formed with an initial mass of over 50 M⊙ are very rare today, but they are thought to be more common in the early Universe. The fates of those early, metal-poor, massive stars are highly uncertain. Most are expected to directly collapse to black holes, while some may explode as a result of rotationally powered engines or the pair-creation instability. We present the chemical abundances of J0931+ 0038, a nearby low-mass star identified in early follow-up of the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper, which preserves the signature of unusual nucleosynthesis from a massive star in the early Universe. J0931+ 0038 has a relatively high metallicity ([Fe/H]=− 1.76±0.13) but an extreme odd–even abundance pattern, with some of the lowest known abundance ratios of [N/Fe],[Na/Fe],[K/Fe],[Sc/Fe], and [Ba/Fe]. The implication is that a majority of its metals originated in a single extremely metal-poor nucleosynthetic source. An …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We present the first detection in space of thionylimide (HNSO) toward the Galactic center molecular cloud G+ 0.693-0.027, thanks to the superb sensitivity of an ultradeep molecular line survey carried out with the Yebes 40 m and IRAM 30 m telescopes. This molecule is the first species detected in the interstellar medium containing, simultaneously, N, S, and O. We have identified numerous K a= 0, 1, and 2 transitions belonging to HNSO covering from J up= 2 to J up= 10, including several completely unblended features. We derive a molecular column density of N=(8±1)× 10 13 cm− 2, yielding a fractional abundance relative to H 2 of∼ 6× 10− 10, which is about∼ 37 and∼ 4.8 times less abundant than SO and SO 2, respectively. Although there are still many unknowns in the interstellar chemistry of NSO-bearing molecules, we propose that HNSO is likely formed through the reaction of the NSO radical and atomic H …

The Astrophysical journal letters

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer measured with high significance the X-ray polarization of the brightest Z-source, Sco X-1, resulting in the nominal 2–8 keV energy band in a polarization degree of 1.0%±0.2% and a polarization angle of 8±6 at a 90% confidence level. This observation was strictly simultaneous with observations performed by NICER, NuSTAR, and Insight-HXMT, which allowed for a precise characterization of its broadband spectrum from soft to hard X-rays. The source has been observed mainly in its soft state, with short periods of flaring. We also observed low-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations. From a spectropolarimetric analysis, we associate a polarization to the accretion disk at< 3.2% at 90% confidence level, compatible with expectations for an electron scattering dominated optically thick atmosphere at the Sco X-1 inclination of∼ 44; for the higher-energy Comptonized component, we …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational-wave background with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15 yr data set. These correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes, which produce different interpulsar correlations. In this work, we search the NANOGrav 15 yr data set for evidence of a gravitational-wave background with quadrupolar HD and scalar-transverse (ST) correlations. We find that HD correlations are the best fit to the data and no significant evidence in favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation signature, with Bayes factors∼ 2 when comparing HD to ST correlations, and∼ 1 for HD plus ST correlations to HD …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational-wave background with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15 yr data set. These correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes, which produce different interpulsar correlations. In this work, we search the NANOGrav 15 yr data set for evidence of a gravitational-wave background with quadrupolar HD and scalar-transverse (ST) correlations. We find that HD correlations are the best fit to the data and no significant evidence in favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation signature, with Bayes factors∼ 2 when comparing HD to ST correlations, and∼ 1 for HD plus ST correlations to HD …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The discovery of extreme strontium isotope anomalies (μ 84 Sr) in refractory leachates from Allende fine-grained calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) is at odds with long-standing predictions regarding the homogenization of presolar components in the CAI-forming region. Elucidating the stellar source (s) of these phases and the mechanisms for their preservation holds potential significance in understanding the dynamics and evolution of the protoplanetary disk. Here we present barium isotope data for the same set of leachates previously analyzed for μ 84 Sr. Our results show fairly homogeneous Ba isotope anomalies across leachates (∼ 100–200 ppm variability), in contrast to the observed μ 84 Sr variations (up to∼ 8%). Secondary phases extracted in earlier leaching steps (L1 and L3) reveal trends in μ 137 Ba and μ 138 Ba akin to that of mainstream SiC and a second nucleosynthetic component. We show …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Optical surveys have become increasingly adept at identifying candidate tidal disruption events (TDEs) in large numbers, but classifying these generally requires extensive spectroscopic resources. Here we present tdescore, a simple binary photometric classifier that is trained using a systematic census of∼ 3000 nuclear transients from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). The sample is highly imbalanced, with TDEs representing∼ 2% of the total. tdescore is nonetheless able to reject non-TDEs with 99.6% accuracy, yielding a sample of probable TDEs with recall of 77.5% for a precision of 80.2%. tdescore is thus substantially better than any available TDE photometric classifier scheme in the literature, with performance not far from spectroscopy as a method for classifying ZTF nuclear transients, despite relying solely on ZTF data and multiwavelength catalog cross matching. In a novel extension, we use" Shapley …

The Astrophysical journal letters

Cir X-1 is a neutron star X-ray binary characterized by strong variations in flux during its eccentric∼ 16.6 day orbit. There are also strong variations in the spectral state, and it has historically shown both atoll and Z state properties. We observed the source with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer during two orbital segments, 6 days apart, for a total of 263 ks. We find an X-ray polarization degree in these segments of 1.6%±0.3% and 1.4%±0.3% at polarization angles of 37±5 and− 12±7, respectively. Thus, we observed a rotation of the polarization angle by 49±8 along the orbit. Because variations of accretion flow, and then of the hardness ratio, are expected during the orbit, we also studied the polarization binned in hardness ratio and found the polarization angle differing by 67±11 between the lowest and highest values of the hardness ratio. We discuss possible interpretations of this result that could indicate a …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

In situ observations of turbulence spectra in space plasmas are usually interpreted as wavenumber spectra, assuming that the fluctuation frequency is negligible in the plasma flow frame. We explore the effects of nonzero frequency in the plasma flow frame on turbulence spectral observations. The finite frequency can be caused by either propagating waves or nonlinear broadening of nonpropagating structures. We show that the observed frequency spectrum can be modified by the nonzero frequency of turbulent fluctuations in several ways. Specifically,(i) frequency broadening results in a minor modification to the observed spectrum, primarily acting as a smoothing kernel of the spectrum near the spectral break, while the asymptotic spectral index remains unchanged;(ii) wave propagation can affect the observed spectral index for anisotropic turbulence. The effect is significant at low frequencies and weaker at high …

The Astrophysical journal letters

Cir X-1 is a neutron star X-ray binary characterized by strong variations in flux during its eccentric∼ 16.6 day orbit. There are also strong variations in the spectral state, and it has historically shown both atoll and Z state properties. We observed the source with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer during two orbital segments, 6 days apart, for a total of 263 ks. We find an X-ray polarization degree in these segments of 1.6%±0.3% and 1.4%±0.3% at polarization angles of 37±5 and− 12±7, respectively. Thus, we observed a rotation of the polarization angle by 49±8 along the orbit. Because variations of accretion flow, and then of the hardness ratio, are expected during the orbit, we also studied the polarization binned in hardness ratio and found the polarization angle differing by 67±11 between the lowest and highest values of the hardness ratio. We discuss possible interpretations of this result that could indicate a …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam images have revealed 154 reliable globular cluster (GC) candidates around the z= 0.0513 elliptical galaxy VV 191a after subtracting 34 likely interlopers from background galaxies inside our search area. NIRCam broadband observations are made at 0.9–4.5 μm using the F090W, F150W, F356W, and F444W filters. Using point-spread-function-matched photometry, the data are analyzed to present color–magnitude diagrams and color distributions that suggest a relatively uniform population of GCs, except for small fractions of reddest (5%–8%) and bluest (2%–4%) outliers. GC models in the F090W versus (F090W–F150W) diagram fit the NIRCam data well and show that the majority of GCs detected have a mass of∼ 10 6.5 M⊙, with metallicities [Fe/H] spanning the typical range expected for GCs (− 2.5≲[Fe/H]≲ 0.5). However, the models predict∼ 0.3–0.4 mag bluer …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Using the MIRI medium-resolution spectrometer on JWST, we have detected pure rotational, suprathermal OH emissions from the vicinity of the intermediate-mass protostar HOPS 370 (OMC2/FIR3). These emissions are observed from shocked knots in a jet/outflow and originate in states of rotational quantum number as high as 46 that possess excitation energies as large as E U/k= 4.65× 10 4 K. The relative strengths of the observed OH lines provide a powerful diagnostic of the ultraviolet radiation field in a heavily extinguished region (A V∼ 10–20) where direct UV observations are impossible. To high precision, the OH line strengths are consistent with a picture in which the suprathermal OH states are populated following the photodissociation of water in its

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The evolved stages of massive stars are poorly understood, but invaluable constraints can be derived from spatially resolved observations of nearby red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse. Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of Betelgeuse showing a dipolar velocity field have been interpreted as evidence for a projected rotation rate of about 5 km s− 1. This is 2 orders of magnitude larger than predicted by single-star evolution, which led to suggestions that Betelgeuse is a binary merger. We propose instead that large-scale convective motions can mimic rotation, especially if they are only partially resolved. We support this claim with 3D CO5BOLD simulations of nonrotating red supergiants that we postprocessed to predict ALMA images and SiO spectra. We show that our synthetic radial velocity maps have a 90% chance of being falsely interpreted as evidence for a projected rotation …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Investigating Protostellar Accretion (IPA) is a JWST Cycle 1 GO program that uses NIRSpec integral field units and MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph to obtain 2.9–28 μm spectral cubes of young, deeply embedded protostars with luminosities of 0.2–10,000 L⊙ and central masses of 0.15–12 M⊙. In this Letter, we report the discovery of a highly collimated atomic jet from the Class 0 protostar IRAS 16253− 2429, the lowest-luminosity source (L bol= 0.2 L⊙) in the IPA program. The collimated jet is detected in multiple [Fe ii] lines and [Ne ii],[Ni ii], and H i lines but not in molecular emission. The atomic jet has a velocity of about 169±15 km s− 1, after correcting for inclination. The width of the jet increases with distance from the central protostar from 23 to 60 au, corresponding to an opening angle of 2 fdg 6±0 fdg 5. By comparing the measured flux ratios of various fine-structure lines to those predicted by simple …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We present analysis of 17,043 proton kinetic-scale current sheets (CSs) collected over 124 days of Wind spacecraft measurements in the solar wind at 11 samples s− 1 magnetic field resolution. The CSs have thickness, λ, from a few tens to one thousand kilometers with typical values around 100 km, or within about 0.1–10λ p in terms of local proton inertial length, λ p. We found that the current density is larger for smaller-scale CSs, J 0≈ 6 nAm− 2·(λ/100 km)− 0.56, but does not statistically exceed a critical value, J A, corresponding to the drift between ions and electrons of local Alvén speed. The observed trend holds in normalized units:

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We confirm TOI-4201 b as a transiting Jovian-mass planet orbiting an early M dwarf discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Using ground-based photometry and precise radial velocities from NEID and the Planet Finder Spectrograph, we measure a planet mass of

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Emission lines from Rydberg transitions are detected for the first time from a region close to the surface of Betelgeuse. The H30α line is observed at 231.905 GHz, with an FWHM∼ 42 km s− 1 and extended wings. A second line at 232.025 GHz (FWHM∼ 21 km s− 1), is modeled as a combination of Rydberg transitions of abundant low first ionization potential metals. Both H30α and the Rydberg combined line X30α are fitted by Voigt profiles, and collisional broadening with electrons may be partly responsible for the Lorentzian contribution, indicating electron densities of a few 10 8 cm− 3. X30α is located in a relatively smooth ring at a projected radius of 0.9× the optical photospheric radius R⋆, whereas H30α is more clumpy, reaching a peak at∼ 1.4 R⋆. We use a semiempirical thermodynamic atmospheric model of Betelgeuse to compute the 232 GHz (1.29 mm) continuum and line profiles making simple …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

A wealth of observations have long suggested that the vast majority of isolated classical dwarf galaxies (M*= 10 7–10 9 M⊙) are currently star forming. However, recent observations of the large abundance of" ultra-diffuse galaxies" beyond the reach of previous large spectroscopic surveys suggest that our understanding of the dwarf galaxy population may be incomplete. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of an isolated quiescent dwarf galaxy in the nearby Universe, which was imaged as part of the JWST PEARLS Guaranteed Time Observation program. Remarkably, individual red-giant branch stars are visible in this near-IR imaging, suggesting a distance of 30±4 Mpc, and a wealth of archival photometry point to an sSFR of 2× 10− 11 yr− 1 and star formation rate of 4× 10− 4 M⊙ yr− 1. Spectra obtained with the Lowell Discovery Telescope find a recessional velocity consistent with the Hubble Flow and> …

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

In this Letter, we report the discovery of the highest redshift, heavily obscured, radio-loud (RL) active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidate selected using JWST NIRCam/MIRI, mid-IR, submillimeter, and radio imaging in the COSMOS-Web field. Using multifrequency radio observations and mid-IR photometry, we identify a powerful, RL, growing supermassive black hole with significant spectral steepening of the radio spectral energy distribution (f 1.28 GHz∼ 2 mJy, q 24 μm=− 1.1, α 1.28− 3 GHz=− 1.2, Δα=− 0.4). In conjunction with ALMA, deep ground-based observations, ancillary space-based data, and the unprecedented resolution and sensitivity of JWST, we find no evidence of AGN contribution to the UV/optical/near-infrared (NIR) data and thus infer heavy amounts of obscuration (N H> 10 23 cm− 2). Using the wealth of deep UV to submillimeter photometric data, we report a singular solution photo-z of z phot=