The Astrophysical Journal Letters最新文献

{"title":"A Two-stage Settling of the Milky Way Disk Revealed by Precise ChronoGal Ages","authors":"David Mirabal,Carme Gallart,Tomás Ruiz-Lara,Emma Fernández-Alvar,Anna B. A. Queiroz,Guillem Aznar-Menargues,Chris B. A. Brook,Santi Cassisi,Yllari K. González-Koda,Julio F. Navarro,Pedro A. Palicio,Francisco Surot","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeb0a3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb0a3","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The spatial distribution of Galactic disk stars of different ages and metallicities encodes its dynamical evolution history and formation pathways. The lack of precise ages for large, representative samples of stars has traditionally been a drawback for securely differentiating among formation scenarios proposed to explain the vertical properties of the Milky Way disk (e.g. upside-down formation versus secular dynamical heating). In this letter, we use color–magnitude diagram fitting of Gaia data to derive very precise age–metallicity distributions for complete stellar samples in the solar neighborhood. We identify quasi-mono-age–metallicity (qMAM) stellar populations with an age resolution better than 5% (≃0.5 Gyr at old age), and study their absolute vertical density profile. We observe a clear correlation between scale height and stellar age, with younger populations consistently more confined to the plane. We find evidence that the scale height decrease rate changed drastically 10.8 5 − 0.12 + 0.13 Gyr ago: at older ages, the evolution is very steep, with h Z dropping from over 1.26 to ∼0.5 kpc in merely 2 Gyr; subsequently, the thinning is very gradual, with h Z  ∼ 0.1 kpc for the youngest populations. The extremely rapid early vertical settling of the disk points to a fundamentally upside-down formation process at early times, when the thick disk component is basically formed. We thus strongly support an evolutionary scenario defined by two distinct temporal phases: an initial, highly turbulent epoch that gave birth to the thick disk, and a subsequent more quiescent period of secular evolution and gradual gas settling, which formed the thin disk.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"31 1","pages":"L38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relativistic Outflows Power a Quasi-periodic Eruption: Constraints on Energetics, Mass Loss, and Emission Mechanisms","authors":"Joheen Chakraborty,Erin Kara,Wenbin Lu,Brian D. Metzger,Peter Kosec,Riccardo Arcodia,Itai Linial,Olivia Aspegren,Ehud Behar,Sudip Bhattacharyya,Margherita Giustini,Lorena Hernández-García,Daniel Kasen,Giovanni Miniutti,Frits Paerels,Erwan Quintin,Claudio Ricci,Daniele Rogantini,Paula Sánchez-Sáez,Fatima Zaidouni","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeb009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are recurring bursts of X-ray radiation originating from supermassive black holes (SMBHs). They are an unprecedented type of structured, high-amplitude SMBH variability, but the physical origins of their regularity, timescales, energetics, and emission are uncertain. We present new XMM-Newton observations of the QPEs in ZTF 19acnskyy/“Ansky,” constituting the deepest observations of individual bursts in any source thus far. The X-ray spectra reveal time-evolving P Cygni profiles comprising blueshifted absorption and redshifted emission from L-shell transitions of Fe xix – xxiv , with column densities N H  ∼ 10 22−23 cm −2 and bulk velocities of ∣ v w / c ∣ ∼ 0.2, indicating relativistic mass ejections during each eruption. We construct a time-dependent analytical model of a wind turning on to self-consistently compute its evolving luminosity and ionization properties, and find that the light curve and spectral lines can be simultaneously produced by a wide-angle outflow with M ̇ ∼ 1 0 − 9 – 1 0 − 8 M ⊙ s − 1 kinetically powering the X-rays with an efficiency of L X / E ̇ K ∼ 0.1 . For a covering fraction f Ω  ∼ 0.5, each eruption ejects ∼10 −3 M ⊙ and ≳10 49 erg of kinetic energy, setting an upper bound on the QPE lifetime of ≲1000 bursts if the underlying mass reservoir is ∼1 M ⊙ , and implying that the bursts may result in detectable multiwavelength signatures of reverberation and feedback. These measurements provide new quantitative constraints on QPE energetics, emission mechanisms, and the mass/energy they recycle into their circumnuclear environments, as well as an observational probe for direct comparison with physical models and hydrodynamical simulations of QPEs.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"40 1","pages":"L37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spinning Down Neutron-star Merger Remnants with the Tayler–Spruit Dynamo: Global Simulations Reveal the Formation of Massive Disks and Neutron-rich Ejecta","authors":"Harry Ho-Yin Ng,Elias R. Most","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeac1b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeac1b","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Magnetic-field amplification and angular momentum (AM) transport critically shape the secular evolution, lifetime, and electromagnetic signatures of binary neutron-star merger remnants. While the magnetorotational instability can operate in the outer negative-shear regions of the neutron-star remnant and accretion disk, the positive-shear, stably stratified core may instead be susceptible to the Tayler–Spruit dynamo. We present the first global, long-term, general-relativistic, neutrino-radiation, magnetohydrodynamics simulations of a neutron-star merger remnant incorporating the unresolved Tayler–Spruit dynamo through a new mean-field dynamo subgrid prescription. Our axisymmetric simulations starting from a realistic merger remnant show that the Tayler–Spruit dynamo is primarily active in high-latitude regions of the remnant core. The resulting Maxwell stresses redistribute AM on a spin-down timescale of a few hundred milliseconds, substantially flattening the core rotation profile and transferring mass and AM from the outer remnant into the disk. This produces a more massive, extended, and strongly magnetized disk with a low electron fraction, leading to substantially more neutron-rich ejecta. Our results demonstrate that currently unmodeled Tayler–Spruit dynamo action can qualitatively alter the rotational evolution, collapse prospects, disk formation, and multimessenger signatures of long-lived neutron-star merger remnants.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"25 1","pages":"L42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modes in Transitional Millisecond Pulsars: Evidence of Pulsar Wind-induced Disk Heating from General-relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics and Radiative Transfer","authors":"Raphaël Mignon-Risse,Manuel Linares,Kyle Parfrey,Alexander Tchekhovskoy,Sean Ressler","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb00c","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) alternate between radio and X-ray pulsar states, and can represent the missing link between rotation- and accretion-powered neutron stars. Their disk state switches stochastically between low and high X-ray modes, both of unknown physical origin and less luminous than low-mass X-ray binaries. To reveal the source of the X-ray emission, we carry out 2D axisymmetric general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the interaction between an accretion disk and a tMSP magnetosphere. For the first time, we postprocess tMSP simulations with a radiative transfer code that incorporates thermal synchrotron, absorption, and Compton scattering processes. By varying the disk density, hence the inflow rate, we explore two disk regimes: one truncated outside and another inside the light cylinder. In the former, most of the X-ray flux comes from the synchrotron emission powered by the wind heating the disk: this “wind” regime could correspond to the high X-ray mode . The latter is the classical propeller regime and lacks this heating. However, the propeller episodically expels the disk, activating the wind heating: a 70%–30% mixture of such propeller and wind regimes reproduces the X-ray spectrum of the low X-ray mode . The excess electromagnetic torque in the propeller regime increases the spin-down rate, averaged over both modes, by a few percent above the disk-free radio pulsar state, in agreement with observations. Overall, the system is more luminous in X-rays when the flow is truncated outside the light cylinder and supports a contribution from wind-induced disk heating in both low and high X-ray modes.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"1 1","pages":"L40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The JWST Sub-Jupiters Survey: Direct-imaging Discovery of a Giant Planet and a Debris Disk around the Young M Dwarf RX J0534.0-0221","authors":"Rodrigo Ferrer-Chavez,Jason J. Wang,Kevin Wagner,Kellen Lawson,Aarynn L. Carter,Beth Biller,Raphaël Bendahan-West,Patrick McCreery,Patricia Luppe,Steve Ertel,Andrew D. James,Ellis Bogat,Rohan Kane,Ben J. Sutlieff,Giovanni M. Strampelli,William O. Balmer,Rachel Bowens-Rubin,Evelyn L. Bruinsma,Andy Skemer,Julien H. Girard,Mark Booth,Klaus Subbotina Stephenson,Katie A. Crotts,Sebastian Marino,Aniket Sanghi,Michael Liu,Nour Skaf,Emily Rickman,Marshall D. Perrin,Laurent Pueyo,Brendan P. Bowler,James Mang,Isabel Rebollido,Michael Meyer,Tim Pearce,Markus Bonse,Clémence Fontanive,Jared Carlson,Jon Rees,Justin Rupert,Gabriel Weible,Jacob Isbell,Juan Carlos Guerra,Xueqing Chen,Mia Belle Parkinson,Vito Squicciarini,Gael Chauvin,Elisabeth Matthews,Kyle Franson,Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer,Sasha Hinkley","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea906","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We present the discovery of RX J0534.0-0221 b, a giant planet orbiting an M dwarf star in the β Pictoris moving group. RX J0534 was originally observed with JWST/NIRCam in the F444W and F200W filters. Observations in F444W reveal a point source at signal-to-noise ratio ∼17.5 at ∼ 0 . ″ 41 (∼14 au) from the host star, with no detection of the source in F200W. A follow-up observation with LBTI/LMIRCam in the L ′ band redetects the source 16 months after the JWST epoch, providing evidence for common proper motion over a chance alignment with a background interloper at the 6 σ –7 σ level. Atmospheric grid model fits to the available photometry yield the bolometric luminosity log 10 ( L / L ⊙ ) = − 5.4 8 − 0.19 + 0.10 dex. At an age of 18–26 Myr, hot-start evolutionary models predict M = 2 . 8 − 0.5 + 0.5 M Jup and T eff = 67 4 − 49 + 57 K. From the L ′ − F 444 W color and magnitudes, we find evidence for disequilibrium chemistry or enhanced metallicity in the planet's atmosphere. Additionally, an extended structure is detected in the JWST F200W observation, consistent with a resolved debris disk with a peak density radius of 7 9 − 3 + 3 au and an inclination of 56 . ° 5 − 1.5 + 1.5 RX J0534 b is one of the lowest-mass planets imaged to date. After TWA 7 b, it is the second imaged planet around an M dwarf orbiting at solar system scales (the first within 40 au) and the first to be confirmed via common proper motion. Future orbital monitoring and atmospheric characterization will shed light on its formation history, a particularly interesting question given the challenging nature of giant planet formation around M dwarfs.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"248 1","pages":"L19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"JWST Reveals the Kuiper Belt–like Compositions of the Uranian Rings and Small Moons","authors":"Matthew Belyakov,M. Ryleigh Davis,Zachariah Milby,Ian Wong,Michael E. Brown","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeacc0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeacc0","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We present the JWST NIRSpec 1–5 μ m spectra of the Uranian rings and four ring moons: Puck, Perdita, Portia, and Juliet. We find that the compositions of the rings and moons strongly resemble water-type Kuiper Belt objects, showing deep 3.0 μ m O–H and water-ice features as well as the CO 2 band at 4.27 μ m. The volatiles show a radial trend of decreasing volatile abundance at closer radial distance to the planet, consistent with recent estimates of the densities of the innermost moons. Given the observed compositional signatures, we suggest two ways to reconcile the history of the small inner moons with that of the regular ones. The first is that the Uranus-tilting collision produced a disk from an impactor formed out of material similar to that which comprises water-rich Kuiper Belt objects, and the ring moons are small undifferentiated remnants of that process. Alternatively, the rings and ring moons postdate the formation of the regular moons, and formed from the later tidal disruption of a several-hundred-kilometer-sized, undifferentiated, water-type Kuiper Belt object.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"8 1","pages":"L18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The PSR J0435+3233 Triple System","authors":"Z. L. Yang,J. L. Han,Yi Yan,Bin Liu,Y. L. Guo,M.K. Yang,Bo Wang,Wei-Min Gu,J. Li,L. H. Li,J. Xu,Jian-Ning Fu","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeaa29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaa29","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The detailed evolution of triple star systems is complicated and poorly known. Using archived optical/infrared and gamma-ray data, we identified the pulsar PSR J0435+3233 as a gamma-ray pulsar in a hierarchical triple system, with a helium white dwarf (WD) as a close inner binary companion and a Sun-like star as the distant tertiary. PSR J0435+3233 and the WD companion are in a circular orbit with a period of P orb1  = 8.0 days and an eccentricity of e = 0.00016. The tertiary is a G-type subgiant with a mass of 0.98(12) M ⊙ at a distance of 2.1(4) kpc from the Earth. By simultaneously fitting the observed spin-period variations of the gamma-ray emission (over 16.7 yr) and radio emission (over 4.9 yr) from PSR J0435+3233, the changes in the inner orbital parameters, the Shapiro delay, Gaia astrometry, and the outer companion mass, we determined the outer elliptical orbit for the tertiary, with a period P orb2  = 73.5 yr and an eccentricity e 2  = 0.598. The outer orbit is either nearly perpendicular to the inner orbit with a mutual inclination of ∼85 ∘ , or moderately inclined by ∼54 ∘ . For the former geometry, the pulsar, the WD, and the tertiary star have masses of 1.16(5) M ⊙ , 0.273(8) M ⊙ , and 0.91(5) M ⊙ , respectively; for the latter geometry, the corresponding masses are 1.34(15) M ⊙ , 0.305(23) M ⊙ , and 1.13(7) M ⊙ . This is a unique triple system for detailed multiband observations and for studying the evolutionary path and dynamic processes of a primordial triple star system. It will ultimately evolve into a system consisting of a neutron star and two WDs.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"62 1","pages":"L9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconstructing the Projected Dark Matter Field across 0.1–100 Mpc Scales from the SDSS Survey*","authors":"Kunyao Zhao,Yingjie Peng,Dingyi Zhao,Xiaohu Yang,Luis C. Ho,Kai Wang,Jing Dou,Zeyu Gao,Qiusheng Gu,Yukun Liu,Roberto Maiolino,Houjun Mo,Alvio Renzini,Canpo Su,Bitao Wang,Yu-Chen Wang,Bingxiao Xu,Feng Yuan,Xingye Zhu","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea8fe","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea8fe","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Dark matter sets the gravitational environment in which galaxies form and evolve, but cannot be observed directly. We present a conditional diffusion model that reconstructs the projected dark matter density field from the galaxy stellar-mass density field for direct application to galaxy surveys. The model is trained on CAMELS and validated on the independent IllustrisTNG300-1 simulation. Halo masses inferred from the reconstructed projected-aperture measurements agree well with the corresponding true values, with a scatter below 0.2 dex. On 100 kpc scales, reconstructed surface densities show a typical scatter of ∼0.3 dex in the regime most relevant for observations. We apply the model to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies with M ⋆ ≥ 10 9 M ⊙ in a contiguous low-redshift region. Averaging over 100 stochastic realizations, we reconstruct and publicly release a projected dark matter field covering 90 × 90 ( h − 1 Mpc ) 2 with a pixel size of 0.097 h −1 Mpc. This pixel area corresponds to the characteristic projected area of halos with masses of ∼10 10.6 h −1 M ⊙ . The map reveals the multiscale projected cosmic web, including cluster-scale overdensities, filaments, and voids. Projected-aperture masses are statistically consistent with SDSS group-catalog masses, while the derived halo mass function broadly matches mock-catalog expectations. The reconstructed projected potential places Coma in one of the deepest wells and near a convergence region of the inferred projected acceleration field, suggesting that the reconstruction retains both local overdensities and coherent large-scale projected gravitational structure. This work shows that diffusion-based dark matter reconstruction can be applied to real galaxy surveys, enabling halo-mass- and spatially resolved dark-matter-environment-based studies of galaxy evolution in SDSS and future wide-area surveys.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"146 1","pages":"L17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Super-Chandrasekhar White Dwarfs by the Evolution of Magnetized Main-sequence Stars: New Mass Limits from STARS Simulation","authors":"Zenia Zuraiq,Banibrata Mukhopadhyay,Achal Kumar,Arnab Sarkar,Alexander J. Hackett,Projjwal Banerjee,Christopher A. Tout","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea97e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea97e","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We explore the time evolution of the magnetized main-sequence stars (MSs) to magnetized nonrotating white dwarfs (WDs) with a series of models, capturing a modified Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. We use the Cambridge Stellar Evolution Code, STARS, with modifications by introducing magnetic effects and cooling. We investigate the possible existence of stable, magnetized, massive, super-Chandrasekhar, approximately spherical WDs, away from Chandrasekhar’s mass–radius curve. These we refer to as B-WDs. They are inferred from the observations of peculiar overluminous Type Ia supernovae, e.g., SN 2003fg. We show that the classical effects of magnetic fields significantly impact MSs and their time evolution to WDs. Moreover, the magnetic field could be decisive in explaining the unusually large radius observed in some sub-Chandrasekhar WDs, e.g., SDSS J123204.19+522548.2, along with the finite temperature effect. We further investigate the stability of magnetized WDs, both below and above the Chandrasekhar limit, and confirm the possibility of super-Chandrasekhar B-WDs with new mass limits that depend on the magnetic field geometry, mass accretion from a companion, and cooling rates. Therefore, while the “Chandrasekhar limit” may be sacrosanct, its value greatly depends on the underlying physics, here the magnetic field.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"42 1","pages":"L8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First Apparent Speed Maps of Density Structures in the Solar Corona from 1.2 to 3\u0000 R\u0000 ⊙\u0000 Derived from Proba-3/ASPIICS White-light Images","authors":"Zac Bailey,Shadia R. Habbal,Miloslav Druckmüller,Colby Haggerty","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea849","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea849","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Characterizing the sources and dynamics of solar-wind streams is challenging given the complexity of the magnetized density structures and the absence of speed measurements in the low corona. White-light (WL) coronagraphic observations from the recently launched Proba-3/ASPIICS mission now offer the first opportunity to capture the dynamics of WL coronal structures over an uninterrupted span between 1.2 and 3 R ⊙ over a period of several hours. In this Letter, we use a 5 minute time-differenced wavelet-optimized whitening technique to measure apparent motions of WL density structures in the corona using features measured in height–time plots. These height–time plots are subsequently enhanced using a technique similar to the principle of multiscale Gaussian normalization to automate the detection of these features to produce plane-of-sky apparent speed maps. Application of this technique to the Proba-3/ASPIICS data acquired on 2025 July 16 revealed the presence of outflows, as well as inflows, with average speeds of 100 and −50 km s −1 , respectively. The speed of a coronal mass ejection (CME), its leading edge and its fine scale substructures, which were clearly visible within the field of view, could also be measured. These first apparent speed maps of coronal density structures highlight the currently unsurpassed effectiveness of the Proba-3 mission for the exploration of the origin and evolution of the solar wind. They also provide novel boundary conditions for two- and three-dimensional models of the dynamic corona.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"38 1","pages":"L14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}