Analysis of the distribution, rotation and scale characteristics of solar wind switchbacks: comparison between the first and second encounters of Parker Solar Probe

The S-shaped magnetic structure in the solar wind formed by the twisting of magnetic field lines is called a switchback, whose main characteristics are the reversal of the magnetic field and the significant increase in the solar wind radial velocity. We identify 242 switchbacks during the first two encounters of Parker Solar Probe (PSP). Statistics methods are applied to analyze the distribution and the rotation angle and direction of the magnetic field rotation of the switchbacks. The diameter of switchbacks is estimated with a minimum variance analysis (MVA) method based on the assumption of a cylindrical magnetic tube. We also make a comparison between switchbacks from inside and the boundary of coronal holes. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the rotation angles of switchbacks observed during the first encounter seem larger than those of the switchbacks observed during the second encounter in general; (2) the tangential component of the velocity inside the switchbacks tends to be more positive (westward) than in the ambient solar wind; (3) switchbacks are more likely to rotate clockwise than anticlockwise, and the number of switchbacks with clockwise rotation is 1.48 and 2.65 times of those with anticlockwise rotation during the first and second encounters, respectively; (4) the diameter of switchbacks is about 10^5 km on average and across five orders of magnitude (10^3 – 10^7 km).

New Massive Contacting Twin Binary in a Radio-quiet HII Region Associated with the M17 Complex

Early-B stars, much less energetic than O stars, may create an HII region that appears as radio-quiet. We report the identification of new early-B stars associated with the radio-quiet HII region G014.645--00.606 in the M17 complex. The ratio-quiet HII region G014.645--00.606 is adjacent to three radio-quiet WISE HII region candidates \citep{2014ApJS..212....1A}. The ionizing sources of the radio-quiet HII regions are expected to later than B1V, given the sensitivity about 1-2 mJy of the MAGPIS 20 cm survey. The stars were first selected if their parallaxes of GAIA EDR3 match that of the 22 GHz H2O maser source within the same region. We used the color-magnitude diagram made from the ZTF photometric catalog to select the candidates for massive stars because the intrinsic g-r colors of massive stars change little from B-type to O-type stars. Five stars lie in the areas of the color-magnitude diagram where either reddened massive stars or evolved post-main sequence stars of lower masses are commonly found. Three of the five stars, sources 1, 2, and 3, are located at the cavities of the three IR bubbles, and extended Hα emission is detected around the three IR bubbles. We suggest that sources 1, 2, and 3 are candidates for early-B stars associated with the radio-quiet region G014.645--00.606. Particularly, source 1 is an EW type eclipsing binary with a short period of 0.825 day, while source 2 is an EA type eclipsing binary with a short period of 0.919 day. The physical parameters of the two binary systems have been derived through the PHOEBE model. Source 1 is a twin binary of two stars with Teff ≈ 23,500 K, and source 2 contains a hotter component (Teff≈20,100 K) and a cooler one (Teff≈15,500 K). The O-C values of source 1 show a trend of decline, implying that the period of source is deceasing. Source 1 is likely a contacting early-B twin binary, for which mass transfer might cause its orbit to shrink.

Physical Properties of 29 sdB+dM Eclipsing Binaries in Zwicky Transient Facility

The development of large-scale time-domain surveys provides an opportunity to study the physical properties as well as the evolutionary scenario of B-type subdwarfs (sdB) and M-type dwarfs (dM). Here, we obtained 33 sdB+dM eclipsing binaries based on the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) light curves and {\sl Gaia} early data release 3 (EDR3) parallaxes. By using the PHOEBE code for light curve analysis, we obtain probability distributions for parameters of 29 sdB+dM. $R_1$, $R_2$, and $i$ are well determined, and the average uncertainty of mass ratio $q$ is 0.08. Our parameters are in good agreement with previous works if a typical mass of sdB is assumed. Based on parameters of 29 sdB+dM, we find that both the mass ratio $q$ and the companion's radius $R_2$ decrease with the shortening of the orbital period. For the three sdB+dMs with orbital periods less than 0.075 days, their companions are all brown dwarfs. The masses and radii of the companions satisfy the mass--radius relation for low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Companions with radii between $0.12R_\odot$ and $0.15R_\odot$ seem to be missing in the observations. As more short-period sdB+dM eclipsing binaries are discovered and classified in the future with ZTF and {\sl Gaia}, we will have more information to constrain the evolutionary ending of sdB+dM.

Imprints of the jittering jets explosion mechanism in the morphology of the supernova remnant SNR~0540-69.3

I identify a point-symmetric structure in recently published VLT/MUSE velocity maps of different elements in a plane along the line of sight at the center of the supernova remnant SNR~0540-69.3, and argue that jittering jets that exploded this core collapse supernova shaped this point-symmetric structure. The four pairs of two opposite clumps that compose this point symmetric structure suggest that two to four pairs of jittering jets shaped the inner ejecta in this plane. In addition, intensity images of several spectral lines reveal a faint strip (the main jet-axis) that is part of this plane of jittering jets and its similarity to morphological features in a few other SNRs and in some planetary nebulae further suggests shaping by jets. My interpretation implies that in addition to instabilities, jets also mix elements in the ejecta of core collapse supernovae. Based on the point-symmetric structure and under the assumption that jittering jets exploded this supernova, I estimate the component of the neutron star natal kick velocity on the plane of the sky to be $\simeq 235 \km\s^{-1}$, and at an angle of $\simeq 47^\circ$ to the direction of the main jet-axis. I analyse this natal kick direction together with other 12 SNRs in the frame of the jittering jets explosion mechanism.

Transonic accretion and winds around Pseudo-Kerr black holes andcomparison with general relativistic solutions

Spectral and timing properties of accretion flows on a black hole depend on their density and temperature distributions, which, in turn come from the underlying dynamics. Thus, an accurate description of the flow which includes hydrodynamics and radiative transfer is a must to interpret the observational results. In the case of non-rotating black holes, Pseudo- Newtonian description of surrounding space-time enables one to make a significant progress in predicting spectral and timing properties. This formalism is lacking for the spinning black holes. In this paper, we show that there exists an exact form of ‘natural’ potential derivable from the general relativistic (GR) radial momentum equation written in the local corotating frame. Use of this potential in an otherwise Newtonian set of equations, allows us to describe transonic flows very accurately as is evidenced by comparing with solutions obtained from the full GR framework. We study the properties of the sonic points and the centrifugal pressure supported shocks in the parameter space spanned by the specific energy and the angular momentum, and compare with the results of GR hydrodynamics. We show that this potential can safely be used for the entire range of Kerr parameter −1 < a < 1 for modeling of observational results around spinning black holes. We assume the flow to be inviscid. Thus, it is non-dissipative with constant energy and angular momentum. These assumptions are valid very close to the black hole horizon as the infall time scale is much shorter as compared to the viscous time scale.

Radiative diffusion in a time-dependent outflow: a model for fast blue optical transients

Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) are luminous transients with fast evolving (typically trise < 12 days) light curve and blue color (usually−0.2 > g−r > −0.3)that cannot be explained by a supernova-like explosion. We propose a radiative diffusion in a time-dependent outflow model to interpret such special transients. In this model, we assume a stellar-mass black hole is formed from stellar core-collapse. As a central engine, the black hole accretes the infalling stellar envelope material via an accretion disk. Due to the extremely super- Eddington accretion rate, the disk ejects continuous outflow during a few days. We consider the ejection of the outflow to be time-dependent. The outflow is optically thick initially and photons are frozen in it. As the outflow expands over time, photons gradually escape, and our work is to model such an evolution. Numerical and analytical calculations are considered separately, and the results are consistent. We apply the model to three typical FBOTs: PS1-10bjp, ZTF18abukavn, and ATLAS19dqr. The modeling finds the total mass of the outflow (∼ 1M⊙), and the total time of the ejection (∼ a few days) for them, leading us to speculate that they may be the result of the collapse of massive stars.

Temperature Analysis of Flaring (AR11283) and non-Flaring (AR12194) Coronal Loops

Here, we study the temperature structure of flaring and non-flaring coronal loops, using extracted loops from images taken in six extreme ultraviolet (EUV) channels recorded by Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA)/ Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). We use data for loops of X2.1-class-flaring active region (AR11283) during 22:10UT till 23:00UT, on 2011, September 6; and non-flaring active region (AR12194) during 08:00:00UT till 09:00:00UT on 2014, October 26. By using spatially-synthesized Gaussian DEM forward-fitting method, we calculate the peak temperatures for each strip of the loops. We apply the Lomb-Scargle method to compute the oscillations periods for the temperature series of each strip. The periods of the temperature oscillations for the flaring loops are ranged from 7 min to 28.4 min. These temperature oscillations show very close behavior to the slow-mode oscillation. We observe that the temperature oscillations in the flaring loops are started at least around 10 minutes before the transverse oscillations and continue for a long time duration even after the transverse oscillations are ended. The temperature amplitudes are increased at the flaring time (during 20 min) in the flaring loops. The periods of the temperatures obtained for the non-flaring loops are ranged from 8.5 min to 30 min,but their significances are less (below 0.5) in comparison with the flaring ones (near to one). Hence the detected temperature periods for the non-flaring loops' strips are less probable in comparison with the flaring ones, and maybe they are just fluctuations. Based on our confined observations, it seems that the flaring loops' periods show more diversity and their temperatures have wider ranges of variation than the non-flaring ones. More accurate commentary in this respect requires more extensive statistical research and broader observations.

The New Wuqing 70 m Radio Telescope and Measurements of Main Electronic Properties in X-band

The new Wuqing 70 m radio telescope is firstly used for the downlink data reception in the first Mars exploration mission of China, and will be used for the other deep space communications and radio astronomical observations in the future. The main specifications and measurement results of some properties in X-band are introduced in this paper, such as pointing calibration, gain and efficiency, system noise temperature, system equivalent flux density, and variations with elevation. The 23 parameters pointing calibration model considering the atmospheric refraction correction in real time is presented in the telescope, and the pointing accuracy is reached 5.70″ in azimuth direction and 6.07″ in elevation direction respectively for different weather condi-tions. More than 62% efficiencies are achieved at full elevation range, and more than 70% in the mid-elevation. The system equivalent flux density of X-band in the mid-elevation is reached 26 Jy.

Method of Separating Cosmic-Ray Positrons from Electrons in the DAMPE Experiment

A method of identifying positron/electron species from the cosmic rays was studied in the DAMPE experiment. As there is no onboard magnet on the satellite, the different features imposed by the geomagnetic field on these two species were exploited for the particle identification. Application of this method to the simulation of on-orbit electrons/positrons/protons and the real flight data proves that separately measuring the CR positrons/electrons with DAMPE is feasible, though limited by the field of view for the present observation data. Further analysis on the positron flux with this method can be expected in the future.

Revisiting the X-ray emission of the asynchronous polar V1432 Aql

As the only eclipsing asynchronous polar, V1432 Aql provides an excellent laboratory to study the interaction between the accreted matter and the magnetic field. Here, we report an analysis of the X-ray data from the contemporaneous NuSTAR and Swift-XRT observations. The X-ray data present a profile with a low-intensity state for almost half an orbital period, a dip at 0.6 phase, and a peak at 0.75 phase, which suggests that there was only one accretion region during the observation and the claim is supported by the spectral analysis. The comparison with the previous data indicates that the X-ray data have an orbital modulation, as the case in BeppoSAX, rather than a spin one observed in ROSAT. We attribute the orbit and spin modulations to the different accretion geometries at work. The spectral analysis of the wide-band data presents a significant reflection effect, a commonly observed soft X-ray temperature, and the energy balance in V1432 Aql. Additionally, we obtained a low total accretion rate of 1.3 × 10−10 M ⊙ yr−1 and a high specific accretion rate of 3.8 g cm−2 s−1 which explains the strong reflection from the surface of the white dwarf. However, due to its complex emission, a more physical understanding of its accretion geometry is still outstanding.