Nature Astronomy最新文献

{"title":"Symmetron dark energy constrained using a magnetically levitated force sensor","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02467-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02467-6","url":null,"abstract":"The symmetron model is one of the most compelling theories of dark energy and it has been tested in a laboratory experiment based on a magnetically levitated force sensor. Although no evidence of dark energy has been found in the experiment, the constraints on the symmetron parameter space have been tightened by more than six orders of magnitude.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Direct imaging of active galactic nucleus outflows and their origin with the 23 m Large Binocular Telescope","authors":"J. W. Isbell, S. Ertel, J.-U. Pott, G. Weigelt, M. Stalevski, J. Leftley, W. Jaffe, R. G. Petrov, N. Moszczynski, P. Vermot, P. Hinz, L. Burtscher, V. Gámez Rosas, A. Becker, J. Carlson, V. Faramaz-Gorka, W. F. Hoffmann, J. Leisenring, J. Power, K. Wagner","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02461-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02461-y","url":null,"abstract":"Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are a key component of galaxy evolution owing to feedback on the host from its supermassive black hole. The morphology of warm inflowing and outflowing dusty material can reveal the nature of the onset of feedback, AGN feeding and the unified model of AGN. Here we use the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) to image the dense, obscuring disk and extended dusty outflow region of NGC 1068. In Fizeau imaging mode, the LBTI synthesizes the equivalent resolution of a 22.8 m telescope. The 8.7 μm Fizeau images of NGC 1068 have an effective resolution of 47 × 90 mas (3.3 × 6.2 pc) in a 5″ field of view after performing point spread function deconvolution techniques described here. This is the only extragalactic source to be Fizeau imaged using the LBTI, and the images bridge the scales measured with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (0.5–5 pc) and those of single telescopes such as James Webb Space Telescope and Keck (>15 pc). The images detect and spatially resolve the low surface brightness mid-infrared features in the AGN disk/wind region that are overresolved by the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The images show strong correlation between mid-infrared dust emission and near-infrared emission of highly excited atomic lines observed by SINFONI. Such LBTI imaging is a precursor to infrared imaging using the upcoming generation of extremely large telescopes, with angular resolutions up to six times better than James Webb Space Telescope, the largest space telescope in orbit. Detailed infrared images of the region around the supermassive black hole of NGC 1068 from the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer reveal a dense disk, dusty outflow and emissions linked to radio jets, suggesting that active galactic nucleus torus models should include jet interactions.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"417-427"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142987399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The emission of interpulses by a 6.45-h-period coherent radio transient","authors":"Y. W. J. Lee, M. Caleb, Tara Murphy, E. Lenc, D. L. Kaplan, L. Ferrario, Z. Wadiasingh, A. Anumarlapudi, N. Hurley-Walker, V. Karambelkar, S. K. Ocker, S. McSweeney, H. Qiu, K. M. Rajwade, A. Zic, K. W. Bannister, N. D. R. Bhat, A. Deller, D. Dobie, L. N. Driessen, K. Gendreau, M. Glowacki, V. Gupta, J. N. Jahns-Schindler, A. Jaini, C. W. James, M. M. Kasliwal, M. E. Lower, R. M. Shannon, P. A. Uttarkar, Y. Wang, Z. Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02452-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02452-z","url":null,"abstract":"Long-period radio transients are a new class of astronomical objects characterized by prolonged periods ranging from 18 min to 54 min. They exhibit highly polarized, coherent, beamed radio emission lasting only 10–100 s. The intrinsic nature of these objects is subject to speculation, with highly magnetized white dwarfs and neutron stars being the prevailing candidates. Here we present ASKAP J183950.5−075635.0, boasting the longest known period of this class at 6.45 h. It exhibits emission characteristics of an ordered dipolar magnetic field, with pulsar-like bright main pulses and weaker interpulses offset by about half a period that are indicative of an oblique or orthogonal rotator. This phenomenon, observed in a long-period radio transient, confirms that the radio emission originates from both magnetic poles and that the observed period corresponds to the rotation period. The spectroscopic and polarimetric properties of ASKAP J183950.5−075635.0 are consistent with a neutron star origin, and this object is a crucial piece of evidence in our understanding of long-period radio sources and their links to neutron stars. Coherent radio emission with a long (nearly 6.5 h) period has been detected from both magnetic poles of a rotating compact object, offering insights into the evolution and emission mechanism of compact radio transients.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"393-405"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142981297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Surveys of the scientific community on the existence of extraterrestrial life","authors":"Peter Vickers, Emma Gardiner, Catherine Gillen, Byron Hyde, Cyrille Jeancolas, Samantha Mitchell Finnigan, Julie Nekola Nováková, Henning Strandin, Ufuk Tasdan, Henry Taylor, Sean McMahon","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02451-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02451-0","url":null,"abstract":"During February–June 2024 we conducted four surveys among researchers regarding the likely existence of basic, complex, and intelligent extraterrestrial life. Our results offer a snapshot of community opinion and reveal a significant degree of consensus that extraterrestrial life is likely to exist.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 1","pages":"16-18"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142974806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Moon experienced more large impacts than we currently see on its surface","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02445-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02445-y","url":null,"abstract":"The tail-end accretion hypothesis of planet formation posits that the early Moon underwent heavy impacts. Viscous relaxation erased lunar impact basins that formed shortly after the solidification of the lunar magma ocean, explaining the low number of basins currently present on the Moon.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"331-332"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Obliteration of ancient impact basins on the Moon by viscous relaxation","authors":"Meng-Hua Zhu, Min Ding, Mark Wieczorek, Alessandro Morbidelli, Luyuan Xu, Qing-Zhu Yin","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02444-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02444-z","url":null,"abstract":"The widely accepted accretion scenario of planet formation suggests that the Moon experienced a violent bombardment in its early history. The accretion scenario predicts that a total of ~300 basins with sizes greater than 300 km formed throughout its bombardment history; however, only ~40 basins of this size are identified on the Moon. The cause for this notable discrepancy is unknown. Here we investigate the viscous relaxation of impact basins formed within ~150 Myr after the completion of lunar magma ocean (LMO) solidification, as only impacts that happened afterwards could be retained by the crust. We find that, owing to the high temperature of the lower crust, basins formed within ~100 Myr after the LMO solidification could have been sufficiently relaxed by lower crustal inflow to escape detection in gravitational and topographic data. By contrast, basins formed afterwards should have limited relaxation, as the cooler temperature of the lower crust inhibits the inflow. Our results show that, to have ~40 retained basins, the Moon would have had ~300–1,000 basin-forming impacts throughout its history and the LMO would have solidified ~4.3 Gyr ago. The temperature-dependent viscous relaxation of post-LMO basins provides a realistic explanation for the low number of basins observed on the Moon. The substantial relaxation of early basins suggests that terrestrial planets, which experienced crustal cooling after magma ocean solidification, may have suffered far more impacts than the basin records indicate. Ancient lunar basins that formed within about 100 million years after the lunar magma ocean solidified have fully relaxed, owing to the high temperature of the lower crust, and thus escaped detection. This finding explains the discrepancy between the number of basins detected on the Moon (~40) and the number predicted (~300) by an accretion scenario of planet formation.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"333-346"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Turbulence cannot balance self-gravity in low-metallicity molecular clouds in the Galactic outer disk and beyond","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02441-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02441-2","url":null,"abstract":"Molecular clouds with low metal content, located in the Galactic outer disk and nearby metal-poor dwarf galaxies, show a notable deficiency in their turbulent support against self-gravity. This challenges the classical virial scenario, in which turbulence and self-gravitational energies are in equilibrium.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"329-330"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142961751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inadequate turbulent support in low-metallicity molecular clouds","authors":"Lingrui Lin, Zhi-Yu Zhang, Junzhi Wang, Padelis P. Papadopoulos, Yong Shi, Yan Gong, Yan Sun, Yichen Sun, Thomas G. Bisbas, Donatella Romano, Di Li, Hauyu Baobab Liu, Keping Qiu, Lijie Liu, Gan Luo, Chao-Wei Tsai, Jingwen Wu, Siyi Feng, Bo Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02440-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02440-3","url":null,"abstract":"The dynamic properties of molecular clouds are set by the interplay of their self-gravity, turbulence, external pressure and magnetic fields. Extended surveys of Galactic molecular clouds typically find that their kinetic energy (Ek) counterbalances their self-gravitational energy (Eg), setting their virial parameter αvir = 2Ek/∣Eg∣ ≈ 1. However, past studies either have been biased by the use of optically thick lines or have been limited within the solar neighbourhood and the inner Galaxy (Galactocentric radius Rgc < Rgc,⊙ ≈ 8 kpc). Here we present sensitive mapping observations of optically thin 13CO lines towards molecular clouds in the low-metallicity Galactic outer disk (Rgc ~ 9–24 kpc). By combining archival data from the inner Galaxy and four nearby metal-poor dwarf galaxies, we reveal a systematic trend of αvir, which declines from supervirial dynamic states in metal-rich clouds to extremely subvirial dynamic states in metal-poor clouds. In these metal-poor environments, turbulence alone is insufficient to counterbalance the self-gravity of a cloud. A cloud-volumetric magnetic field may replace turbulence as the dominant cloud-supporting mechanism in low-metallicity conditions, for example, the outermost galactic disks, dwarf galaxies and galaxies in the early Universe, which would then inevitably impact the initial conditions for star formation in such environments. Low-metallicity molecular clouds in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies exhibit a strong deficiency in turbulent support against their self-gravity, suggesting that the magnetic field may play a dominant role in supporting clouds under such conditions.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"406-416"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142961763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A swarm of dusty objects in orbit around the central star of planetary nebula WeSb 1","authors":"Jan Budaj, Klaus Bernhard, David Jones, James Munday","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02446-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02446-x","url":null,"abstract":"Exoplanets and smaller bodies have been detected orbiting different kind of stars. However, we do not know of any such objects in planetary nebulae, the short-lived stage of stellar evolution between the asymptotic giant branch and white dwarf phases. The planetary activity (destruction and formation) may be accompanied by dust clouds. Hence, we searched for dust occultation events in planetary nebulae using archival photometric data. We show that the central star of PN WeSb 1 features numerous dimming events with typical durations of a few days to weeks that are up to 3 mag deep. This variability is mainly stochastic with an indication of a 400 d period. The occultations are almost grey, indicating dust grains larger than about 0.1 μm. Based on our follow-up observations, we argue that the central star is a wide binary and that these events are most probably caused by debris from disintegrated small rocky bodies that escaped from the former asymptotic giant branch star to find safe harbour around the companion star. The latter star dominates the optical spectrum enabling us to see the eclipses. This means that planetary systems are present and undergo violent evolution during the planetary nebula stage. Numerous eclipses have been observed towards the binary central star of planetary nebula WeSb 1, probably caused by debris from disintegrated rocky bodies. This finding suggests that planetary systems undergo a violent evolution during the planetary nebula stage.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"380-392"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142936054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification of more than 40 gravitationally magnified stars in a galaxy at redshift 0.725","authors":"Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Fengwu Sun, Jose M. Diego, Liang Dai, Masamune Oguri, Adi Zitrin, Erik Zackrisson, Mathilde Jauzac, David J. Lagattuta, Eiichi Egami, Edoardo Iani, Rogier A. Windhorst, Katsuya T. Abe, Franz Erik Bauer, Fuyan Bian, Rachana Bhatawdekar, Thomas J. Broadhurst, Zheng Cai, Chian-Chou Chen, Wenlei Chen, Seth H. Cohen, Christopher J. Conselice, Daniel Espada, Nicholas Foo, Brenda L. Frye, Seiji Fujimoto, Lukas J. Furtak, Miriam Golubchik, Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, Jean-Baptiste Jolly, Hiroki Kawai, Patrick L. Kelly, Anton M. Koekemoer, Kotaro Kohno, Vasily Kokorev, Mingyu Li, Zihao Li, Xiaojing Lin, Georgios E. Magdis, Ashish K. Meena, Anna Niemiec, Armin Nabizadeh, Johan Richard, Charles L. Steinhardt, Yunjing Wu, Yongda Zhu, Siwei Zou","doi":"10.1038/s41550-024-02432-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-024-02432-3","url":null,"abstract":"Strong gravitational magnification enables the detection of faint background sources and allows researchers to resolve their internal structures and even identify individual stars in distant galaxies. Highly magnified individual stars are useful in various applications, including studies of stellar populations in distant galaxies and constraining dark matter structures in the lensing plane. However, these applications have been hampered by the small number of individual stars observed, as typically one or a few stars are identified from each distant galaxy. Here, we report the discovery of more than 40 microlensed stars in a single galaxy behind Abell 370 at redshift of 0.725 (dubbed ‘the Dragon arc’) when the Universe was half of its current age, using James Webb Space Telescope observations with the time-domain technique. These events were found near the expected lensing critical curves, suggesting that these are magnified stars that appear as transients from intracluster stellar microlenses. Through multi-wavelength photometry, we constrained their stellar types and found that many of them are consistent with red giants or supergiants magnified by factors of hundreds. This finding reveals a high occurrence of microlensing events in the Dragon arc and demonstrates that time-domain observations by the James Webb Space Telescope could lead to the possibility of conducting statistical studies of high-redshift stars. Using JWST, more than 40 individual stars have been detected in a distant galaxy, dating back to when the Universe was only half of its current age. The stars appear to be red (super)giants that are magnified by factors of hundreds.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 3","pages":"428-437"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}