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Astrophysics

Papers reviewed in the last 7 days lead, then the papers readers actually read. Ranking is not a quality score.

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36 ultra-faint dwarfs stopped forming stars ~12.5 Gyr ago

Uniform deep-imaging photometry dates their quenching to z≈4.6, with an 800-Myr delay hint for LMC and first-infall satellites.

· “The HST Legacy Archival Uniform Reduction of Local Group Imaging (LAURELIN). I. Photometry and Star Formation Histories for 36 Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxies”

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Figure from the paper

Found: 12 starless cores massive enough to birth high-mass stars

Their 50–240 kyr lifetimes run 10–30× the free-fall time, implying turbulence or fields stall collapse.

· “ALMA-IMF XVII -- Census and lifetime of high-mass prestellar cores in 14 massive protoclusters”

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M31 distance plus luminosity predicts dwarf quenching to 1.8 Gyr

HST star-formation histories for 36 Andromeda satellites show halo mass and environment set the shutdown time

· “The Hubble Space Telescope Survey of M31 Satellite Galaxies IV. Survey Overview and Lifetime Star Formation Histories”

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Galaxy gas density rises as (1+z)^1.5 from z=2 to z=5

Deep NIRSpec spectra put low-ionization gas at 268-480 per cubic cm between z=2.3 and z=5.3, with interiors 30 times denser.

· “The AURORA Survey: The Evolution of Multi-phase Electron Densities at High Redshift”

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A monotonic SFR–halo relation fits galaxy populations to z~2

DECODE shows halo quenching handles massive galaxies; the lowest-mass galaxies need extra quenching.

· “Shedding light on the star formation rate-halo accretion rate connection and halo quenching mechanism via DECODE, the Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl”

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Three quasars pass a UV test for binary black holes

HST spectra show Lyα and Hβ share the same velocity shift in three objects, boosting the case for close binaries.

· “A Large Systematic Search for Close Supermassive Binary and Rapidly Recoiling Black Holes -- IV. Ultraviolet spectroscopy”

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New spectra split carbon stars by oxygen isotope ratio

Six dustless stars carry more oxygen-18 than oxygen-16; six dusty RCB stars carry far less.

· “Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Hydrogen-Deficient Carbon Stars: A Correlation with Effective Temperature and Implications for White Dwarf Merger Outcomes”

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883 core temperatures and 151 luminosities challenge accretion models

Data-based masses and luminosities for massive protostars favor a larger, replenished mass reservoir than the host core.

· “ALMA-IMF XVI: Mass-averaged temperature of cores and protostellar luminosities in the ALMA-IMF protoclusters”

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Kaon condensates reproduce two light neutron stars at once

One equation of state with $K^{-}$ and $\bar{K}^{0}$ condensates fits both XTE J1814-338 and HESS J1731-347 simultaneously.

· “Simultaneous explanation of XTE J1814-338 and HESS J1731-347 objects using {K⁻} and {bar{K}⁰} condensates”

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Two molecules in a dusty disk are colder than the gas around them

In the IRS 48 dust trap, methanol and formaldehyde are sub-thermally excited; only SO2 traces the midplane.

· “Characterising the molecular line emission in the asymmetric Oph-IRS 48 dust trap: Temperatures, timescales, and sub-thermal excitation”

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Figure from the paper

43,000 dwarf galaxy candidates found in the northern sky

A machine-learning catalog from the UNIONS survey flags faint galaxies by dwarf probability, ready for follow-up studies.

· “Galaxies OBserved as Low-luminosity Identified Nebulae (GOBLIN): a catalog of 43,000 high-probability dwarf galaxy candidates in the UNIONS survey”

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Habitable zones of the smallest stars likely strip rocky atmospheres

New models put every JWST Earth-sized target outside the atmosphere retention distance.

· “Habitable Zone and Atmosphere Retention Distance (HaZARD) Stellar-evolution-dependent loss models of secondary atmospheres”

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No dark energy needed: structure formation alone eases H0 and fσ8

A stochastic backreaction model yields acceleration and eases the Hubble and growth-rate tensions.

· “Little ado about everything II: an `emergent' dark energy from structure formation to rule cosmic tensions”

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UDG 32 was born from pre-enriched gas

MUSE data show the Hydra I object is about 8 Gyr and metal-rich, pointing to an origin in the cluster's south-east group.

· “Looking into the faintEst WIth MUSE (LEWIS): Exploring the nature of ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Hydra I cluster III. Untangling UDG 32 from the stripped filaments of NGC 3314A with multi-wavelength data”

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A galaxy at z=8.5 shut down star formation in under 30 million years

A steep UV slope plus a Balmer break points to a starburst that ended quickly and a high escape fraction.

· “Zapped then Napped? A rapidly quenched remnant leaker candidate with a steep spectroscopic β_(UV) slope at z=8.5”

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Machine learning finds 44 z>3 quiescent galaxies with 5x smaller pool

UMAP on seven NIRCam colors cuts the pre-selection pool from ~10,500 to ~2,300 and catches young <300 Myr systems.

· “Searching for Quiescent Galaxies over 3 < z < 6 in JWST Surveys Using Manifold Learning”

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Mkn 421 X-ray variability pivots at a fixed energy

Four years of AstroSat data give the same pivot energy under three spectral models, pointing to acceleration timescales.

· “Probing Spectral Evolution and Intrinsic Variability of Mkn\,421: A Multi-Epoch AstroSat Study of X-ray Spectra”

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GD 1400B shifts 81% of its starlight to the night side

Phase-resolved spectra show this brown dwarf's hemispheres are nearly identical, a miniature warm-Jupiter analog.

· “Phase-resolved Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 Spectroscopy of Weakly-Irradiated Brown Dwarf GD 1400 and Energy Redistribution-Irradiation Trends in Six WD-BD Binaries”

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Diffuse interstellar silicates hold 11 oxygens per metal

JWST spectra of nine Milky Way sightlines tie the 10-micron dust band to Mg, Fe, and O abundances

· “A first taste of MEAD (Measuring Extinction and Abundances of Dust) -- I. Diffuse Milky Way interstellar dust extinction features in JWST infrared spectra”

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DESI–Planck cross-correlation keeps f_NL consistent with zero

The cross-correlation resists imaging systematics better than the autocorrelation, pointing to tighter future PNG bounds

· “Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity from the cross-correlation of DESI Luminous Red Galaxies and Planck CMB lensing”

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Figure from the paper

Weak [OIII] galaxies are hiding efficient ionizers

At metallicities below 10% solar, [OIII] fades but Hα stays strong, so common selections miss the best ionizers.

· “Efficient Ionizers with Low Hboldsymbol{β}+[OIII] Equivalent Widths: JADES Spectroscopy of a Peculiar High-z Population”

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Figure from the paper

Dense environments quench star formation by 100x

Causal analysis of 18,629 simulated galaxies shows the effect flips: at z>1 dense environments boost star formation.

· “Nature versus nurture in galaxy formation: the effect of environment on star formation with causal machine learning”

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Bayesian model finds expansion and rotation in nearby star clusters

Open-source Kalkayotl 2.0 recovers expansion ages and rotation signals from Gaia data for associations up to 1.5 kpc.

· “Kalkayotl 2.0 Bayesian phase-space modelling of star-forming regions, stellar associations, and open clusters”

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Figure from the paper

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