Riddhi Bandyopadhyay,Sujan Prasad Gautam,William H. Matthaeus,Yeimy J. Rivera,Samuel T. Badman
{"title":"The First Observation of a Polar Coronal Hole-like Fast Solar Wind Stream in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Corona: An Analysis of Turbulence Properties","authors":"Riddhi Bandyopadhyay,Sujan Prasad Gautam,William H. Matthaeus,Yeimy J. Rivera,Samuel T. Badman","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeaae2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaae2","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Parker Solar Probe, near its 23rd perihelion in 2025 March, sampled an extended interval of sub-Alfvénic solar wind likely originating from a large equatorial coronal hole. At heliocentric distances of approximately 10 R ⊙ , with speed mostly above 400 km s −1 , this interval is a first example of a “polar coronal hole–like (PCH-l) fast” solar wind observed in the sub-Alfvénic solar corona. We characterize the turbulence properties of this unique interval using Parker Solar Probe measurements. Despite being sampled well inside the nominal Alfvén surface, the turbulence appears to be already well developed while remaining strongly transverse and highly imbalanced, exhibiting a large cross helicity. These observations provide new constraints on the development and evolution of solar wind turbulence within the lower corona.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"8 1","pages":"L11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149979","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":"Collisionless Shock Driven by a Supersonic Velocity Shear","authors":"Kazuki Kamiido,Yutaka Ohira","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeaba2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaba2","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The long-term evolution of a relativistic collisionless velocity shear in an unmagnetized electron-positron plasma is investigated using a first-principle particle-in-cell simulation. The Alves instability converts the shear kinetic energy into thermal and magnetic field energy. The resulting pressures push the plasma, leading to the formation of collisionless shocks. The generated collisionless shocks would accelerate high energy particles, which is a possible solution to the injection problem of shear acceleration. In addition, the collisionless shocks generate a magnetic field turbulence that is required for the shear acceleration to work.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"19 1","pages":"L15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089201","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}
Xinyue Wang,Astrid M. Veronig,Hechao Chen,Hui Tian
{"title":"Solar Soft X-Ray Coronal Dimming in a Failed Eruption Associated with Plasma Cooling","authors":"Xinyue Wang,Astrid M. Veronig,Hechao Chen,Hui Tian","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea099","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea099","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Coronal dimmings are observed as sudden and localized reductions in the extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray emission of the solar corona. Traditionally, significant dimmings of spectral lines formed at temperatures of 1–2 MK are regarded as indicators of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), reflecting the density depletion caused by plasma escaping into interplanetary space. In this Letter, we report a peculiar deep coronal dimming event predominantly observed in high-temperature spectral lines following an M8.8-class confined solar flare associated with a failed filament eruption. Sun-as-a-star measurements from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment reveal intensity reductions exceeding 30% in soft X-ray (SXR) and measurable decreases in Fe xviii (6.5 MK) and Fe xx (9.3 MK). Spatially resolved observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly demonstrate that the dimming originates from the active region core, while the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A shows no evidence for CME-driven mass loss. Differential emission measure analysis reveals plasma at temperatures >5 MK cooling into lower temperatures, supporting plasma cooling as the dominant contributor to the hot-band dimming rather than CME-associated plasma escape. This event demonstrates that deep hot SXR dimmings can occur without substantial CME-driven mass loss, suggesting that alternative physical mechanisms may also account for unresolved stellar dimmings in addition to the commonly inferred CME signatures.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"35 1","pages":"L16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089247","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}
Maruša Bradac,Chris Willott,Yoshihisa Asada,Loïc Albert,Gregor Rihtaršič,Anishya Harshan,Jon Judež,Nicholas S. Martis,Andrea Ferrara,Kevin Hainline,Abdurro’uf,Joseph F. V. Allingham,Volker Bromm,John Chisholm,Dan Coe,Guillaume Desprez,Jose M. Diego,Andreas L. Faisst,Seiji Fujimoto,Lukas J. Furtak,Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao,Kohei Inayoshi,Anton M. Koekemoer,Vasily Kokorev,Brian C. Lemaux,Paulo A. A. Lopes,Ray A. Lucas,Danilo Marchesini,Vladan Markov,Gaël Noirot,Richard Pan,Scott W. Randall,Johan Richard,Luke Robbins,Ghassan T. E. Sarrouh,Marcin Sawicki,Tim Schrabback,Roberta Tripodi,Eros Vanzella,Rogier A. Windhorst
{"title":"Two Exciting High-redshift Galaxy Candidates Turn Out to Be Two Exciting Brown Dwarfs","authors":"Maruša Bradac,Chris Willott,Yoshihisa Asada,Loïc Albert,Gregor Rihtaršič,Anishya Harshan,Jon Judež,Nicholas S. Martis,Andrea Ferrara,Kevin Hainline,Abdurro’uf,Joseph F. V. Allingham,Volker Bromm,John Chisholm,Dan Coe,Guillaume Desprez,Jose M. Diego,Andreas L. Faisst,Seiji Fujimoto,Lukas J. Furtak,Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao,Kohei Inayoshi,Anton M. Koekemoer,Vasily Kokorev,Brian C. Lemaux,Paulo A. A. Lopes,Ray A. Lucas,Danilo Marchesini,Vladan Markov,Gaël Noirot,Richard Pan,Scott W. Randall,Johan Richard,Luke Robbins,Ghassan T. E. Sarrouh,Marcin Sawicki,Tim Schrabback,Roberta Tripodi,Eros Vanzella,Rogier A. Windhorst","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/ae9085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae9085","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract From the onset of observations of JWST we have discovered unexpectedly luminous galaxies at redshifts z > 10 and as high as z = 14. With their discovery, the question immediately followed as to where their progenitors are, since such progenitors should be within reach of existing surveys. However, the discovery of several bright candidates at z > 15 may indicate further discrepancies between pre-JWST model predictions and current observations. Progenitors of the bright z ∼ 14 galaxies should be visible at redshifts as high as z ∼ 20–30, showing in the data as F277W and F356W dropouts. We identify two such candidates in the Bullet Cluster JWST data; however, subsequent NIRSpec follow-up data show spectra that can be well fit with Y dwarf templates with temperatures 272–351 K and and 445–525 K (using ATMO2020 and Sonora Elf Owl models) and distances of ∼150–650 pc. The first is one of the lowest-temperature brown dwarfs known, and the lowest-temperature brown dwarf detected spectroscopically outside the solar neighborhood. With additional NIRCam imaging taken ∼1 yr later, we also detect their proper motions of (49 ± 8) mas yr −1 and (24 ± 3) mas yr −1 , further indicating that at least some F277W and F356W dropouts are substellar cold Milky Way objects such as brown dwarfs.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"67 1","pages":"L13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089199","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":"Is Dark Matter Really Matter?","authors":"Jun-Qian Jiang,Arman Shafieloo","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeaa2a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaa2a","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the standard model of cosmology, it is assumed that dark matter is pressureless with equation of state w = 0 and dark energy has w = −1. We test these assumptions jointly using DESI DR2 distance measurements, including the recent Ly α Alcock–Paczynski (AP) information, Dark Energy Survey (DES) supernovae, and two complementary cosmic microwave background (CMB) treatments. When constant w DM and w DE are varied together, we find w DM = 0.00096 8 − 0.000496 + 0.000501 and w DE = − 0.938 0 − 0.0262 + 0.0259 (68%). With an alternative CMB treatment that marginalizes over the lensing spectrum, the corresponding constraints are w DM = 0.00087 0 − 0.000410 + 0.000408 and w DE = − 0.935 3 − 0.0254 + 0.0258 . Both standard ΛCDM values are disfavored at approximately 2 σ in the joint extension. Neither parameter departs significantly from its standard value when only that parameter is varied. This behavior arises because late-time distances favor w DE > −1, while maintaining the early-Universe physical matter density requires a compensating positive w DM , which changes the mapping to the matter density today. Allowing dynamical dark energy further highlights the complexity of the situation: phantom crossing for dark energy makes w DM = 0 consistent with the data, whereas a positive w DM preference persists when crossing is forbidden. Interestingly, the Padé- w parameterization that provides a flexible description of a class of quintessence models (with no phantom crossing), along with w DM free, is even mildly favored over the phantom-crossing w 0 w a model according to both the best-fit χ 2 and the deviance information criterion (DIC) under both CMB treatments. One can conclude that the apparent preference for phantom crossing may instead reflect deviations in the dark-matter sector rather than dark-energy dynamics alone. With future high-redshift distance measurements, particularly improved Ly α observations, together with growth and lensing probes, these possibilities may be further clarified.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"11 1","pages":"L12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089202","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":"Negative and Positive Cascade Rates of Slow Alfvénic Turbulence in Switchback and Nonswitchback Intervals: Wind Observations","authors":"Sofiane Bourouaine","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aea90c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aea90c","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We estimate the turbulent cascade rate in imbalanced Alfvénic turbulence in the slow solar wind using a Politano–Pouquet-based approach that does not require an isotropic assumption. We analyze selected 8 hr intervals provided by the Wind spacecraft. These intervals are characterized by near-homogeneity, weak velocity shear, and imbalanced Alfvénic fluctuations, and are classified as switchback or nonswitchback depending on the angular spread of the magnetic field relative to the mean field. Switchback intervals are identified by large magnetic-field rotations, whereas nonswitchback intervals exhibit only small angular deviations. Our results show that nonswitchback intervals exhibit a positive total cascade rate and power spectra consistent with a −3/2 scaling, indicative of a forward energy cascade. In contrast, switchback intervals are characterized by a negative total cascade rate, and by steeper power spectra with a spectral index of approximately −1.6. This indicates that large magnetic-field rotations can substantially modify the scale-to-scale energy transfer in Alfvénic slow solar wind. The results suggest that switchbacks may be associated with additional physical processes, such as local instabilities or reconnection-related structures, that alter the direction and magnitude of the turbulent cascade. These findings may help explain previous reports of negative cascade rates in imbalanced Alfvénic solar-wind turbulence.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"36 1","pages":"L1"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089200","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}
Arin M. Avsar,Kevin Wagner,Dániel Apai,Isabel Rebollido,Antranik A. Sefilian,Marshall D. Perrin,Christopher C. Stark,Gabriel Weible,András Gáspár
{"title":"Deep HST/STIS Coronagraphic Imaging of the\u0000 β\u0000 Pictoris Debris Disk: On the Scattered Light Component of the Cat’s Tail","authors":"Arin M. Avsar,Kevin Wagner,Dániel Apai,Isabel Rebollido,Antranik A. Sefilian,Marshall D. Perrin,Christopher C. Stark,Gabriel Weible,András Gáspár","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/aeac4a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aeac4a","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The β Pictoris debris disk is a unique system where mid-infrared coronagraphic imaging with JWST/Mid-Infrared Imager (MIRI) revealed a new spatially resolved substructure known as the Cat’s Tail. We present deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) coronagraphic imaging of β Pic in scattered light, combining six epochs of observations between 2012 and 2025, in search of the scattered light component of the Cat’s Tail. We detect the disk out to a projected separation of 500 au for the first time with HST/STIS, achieving a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) > 100 across much of the midplane between 50 and 200 au. We report the detection of the visible/near-infrared scattered light component of the Cat’s Tail substructure. We find through injection-recovery analysis that the scattered light component of the Cat’s Tail has a total flux of 0.1%–0.4% of the MIRI F1550C flux. Using the measured STIS-to-MIRI flux ratio, we model the Cat’s Tail grain properties and find that the grains are highly porous and almost entirely composed of organic refractory material, which is in agreement with findings with JWST/MIRI. We use the organics content of solar system dwarf planets and dust in the local ISM as a proxy to estimate the size of the colliding progenitors that can produce enough organic refractory material seen in the Cat’s Tail. We find that each colliding progenitor must have a mass of at least 1–3 × 10 21 kg, comparable to Charon and Makemake in our Kuiper Belt. Additionally, we find a prominent warped morphology and surface brightness asymmetry in the outer dust halo of β Pic. We compare the observed halo morphology and asymmetry to predicted vertical structures, which may arise from planet–disk interactions.","PeriodicalId":501814,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":"3 1","pages":"L10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149089198","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}