On hot Jupiter exoplanets, strong horizontal and vertical winds should homogenize the abundances of the important absorbers CH4 and CO much faster than chemical reactions restore chemical equilibrium. This effect, typically neglected in general circulation models (GCMs), has been suggested to explain discrepancies between observed infrared light curves and those predicted by GCMs. On the nightsides of several hot Jupiters, GCMs predict outgoing fluxes that are too large, especially in the Spitzer. 4.5 mu m band. We modified the SPARC/MITgcm to include disequilibrium abundances of CH4, CO, and H2O by assuming that the CH4/CO ratio is constant throughout the simulation domain. We ran simulations of hot Jupiter HD 189733b with eight CH4/CO ratios. In the more likely CO-dominated regime, we find temperature changes. >= 50-100 K compared to the simulation for equilibrium chemistry across large regions. This effect is large enough to affect predicted emission spectra and should thus be included in GCMs of hot Jupiters with equilibrium temperatures between 600 and 1300 K. We find that spectra in regions with strong methane absorption, including the Spitzer. 3.6 and 8 mu m bands, are strongly impacted by disequilibrium abundances. We expect chemical quenching to result in much larger nightside fluxes in the 3.6 mu m band, in stark contrast to observations. Meanwhile, we find almost no effect on predicted observations in the 4.5 mu m band, because the changes in opacity due to CO and H2O offset each other. We thus conclude that disequilibrium carbon chemistry cannot explain the observed low nightside fluxes in the 4.5 mu m band.

We report 14 and 26 protocluster candidates at z = 5.7 and 6.6 over 14 and 16 deg(2) areas, respectively, selected from 2230 (259) Ly alpha emitters (LAEs) photometrically (spectroscopically) identified using Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) deep images (Keck, Subaru, and Magellan spectra, and literature data). Six out of the 40 protocluster candidates include one to 13 spectroscopically confirmed LAEs. We conduct Monte Carlo simulations to estimate how many protocluster candidates are found by chance for randomly distributed sources, and find that the effective number of protocluster candidates at z = 5.7 (6.6) is six (five). By comparing with the cosmological Ly alpha radiative transfer (RT) model reproducing the LAEs with reionization effects, we find that more than half of these protocluster candidates are progenitors of present-day clusters with mass of greater than or similar to 10(14)M(circle dot). We then investigate the correlation between the LAE overdensity delta and the Ly alpha rest-frame equivalent width EWLy alpha rest, because the cosmological Ly alpha RT model suggests that the slope of the EWLy alpha rest-delta relation steepens toward the epoch of cosmic reionization (EoR), due to the existence of ionized bubbles around galaxy overdensities easing the escape of Ly alpha emission from the partly neutral intergalactic medium. The available HSC data suggest that the slope of the EWLy alpha rest-delta correlation does not evolve from the post-reionization epoch, z = 5.7, to the EoR, z = 6.6, beyond the moderately large statistical errors. There is a possibility that we could detect the evolution of the EWLy alpha rest-delta relation from z = 5.7 to 7.3 using the upcoming HSC observations that will provide large samples of LAEs at z = 6.6-7.3.

Growing observational evidence has suggested active meteorology in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs (BDs) and directly imaged extrasolar giant planets (EGPs). In particular, a number of surveys have shown that near-infrared brightness variability is common among L and T dwarfs. Despite the likelihood from previous studies that atmospheric dynamics is the major cause of the variability, the detailed mechanism of the variability remains elusive, and we need to seek a natural, self-consistent mechanism. Clouds are important in shaping the thermal structure and spectral properties of these atmospheres via their opacity, and we expect the same for inducing atmospheric variability. In this work, using a time-dependent one-dimensional model that incorporates a self-consistent coupling between the thermal structure, convective mixing, cloud radiative heating/cooling, and condensation/evaporation of clouds, we show that radiative cloud feedback can drive spontaneous atmospheric variability in both temperature and cloud structure under conditions appropriate for BDs and directly imaged EGPs. The typical periods of variability are 1 to tens of hr, with a typical amplitude of the variability up to hundreds of K in effective temperature. The existence of variability is robust over a wide range of parameter space, but the detailed evolution of the variability is sensitive to model parameters. Our novel, self-consistent mechanism has important implications for the observed flux variability of BDs and directly imaged EGPs, especially for objects whose variability evolves on short timescales. It is also a promising mechanism for cloud breaking, which has been proposed to explain the L/T transition of BDs.

Nonthermal electron acceleration via magnetic reconnection is thought to play an important role in powering the variable X-ray emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows around black holes. The trans-relativistic regime of magnetic reconnection-where the magnetization sigma, defined as the ratio of magnetic energy density to enthalpy density, is similar to 1-is frequently encountered in such flows. By means of a large suite of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate electron and proton acceleration in the trans-relativistic regime. We focus on the dependence of the electron energy spectrum on sigma and the proton beta (the ratio of proton thermal pressure to mio agnetic pressure). We find that the electron spectrum in the reconnection region is nonthermal and can be modeled as a power law. At low beta, the slope, p, is independent of beta and hardens with increasing sigma as p similar or equal to 1.8 + 0.7/root sigma. Electrons are primarily accelerated by the nonideal electric field at X-points, either in the initial current layer or in current sheets generated between merging magnetic islands. At higher values of beta, the electron power law steepens, and the electron spectrum eventually approaches a Maxwellian distribution for all values of sigma. At values of beta near beta(max) approximate to 1/4 sigma, when both electrons and protons are relativistically hot prior to reconnection, the spectra of both species display an additional component at high energies, containing a few percent of particles. These particles are accelerated via a Fermi-like process by bouncing between the reconnection outflow and a stationary magnetic island

We report evidence of environmental quenching among galaxies at redshifts of approximate to 2, namely the probability that a galaxy quenches its star formation activity is enhanced in the regions of space in proximity of other quenched, more massive galaxies. The effect is observed as strong clustering of quiescent galaxies around quiescent galaxies on angular scales of theta <= 20 arcsec, corresponding to a proper (comoving) scale of 168 (502) kpc at z = 2. The effect is observed only for quiescent galaxies around other quiescent galaxies; the probability to find star-forming galaxies around quiescent or around star-forming ones is consistent with the clustering strength of galaxies of the same mass and at the same redshift, as observed in dedicated studies of galaxy clustering. The effect is mass dependent in the sense that the quenching probability is stronger for galaxies of smaller masses (M* < 10(10) M-circle dot) than for more massive ones, i. e., it follows the opposite trend with mass relative to gravitational galaxy clustering. The spatial scale where the effect is observed suggests that these environments are massive halos, in which case the observed effect would likely be satellite quenching. The effect is also redshift dependent in that the clustering strength of quiescent galaxies around other quiescent galaxies at <(z)over bar> = 1.6 is approximate to 1.7x larger than that of the galaxies with the same stellar mass at (Z) over bar = 2.6. This redshift dependence allows for a crude estimate of the timescale of environmental quenching of low-mass galaxies, which is in the range of 1.5 similar to 4 Gyr, in broad agreement with other estimates and with our ideas on satellite quenching.

We map the trends of elemental abundance ratios across the Galactic disk, spanning R = 3-15 kpc and midplane distance vertical bar Z vertical bar = 0-2 kpc, for 15 elements in a sample of 20,485 stars measured by the SDSS/APOGEE survey (O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni). Adopting Mg rather than Fe as our reference element, and separating stars into two populations based on [Fe/Mg], we find that the median trends of [X/Mg] versus [Mg/H] in each population are nearly independent of location in the Galaxy. The full multi-element cartography can be summarized by combining these nearly universal median sequences with our measured metallicity distribution functions and the relative proportions of the low-[Fe/Mg] (high-alpha) and high-[Fe/Mg] (low-alpha) populations, which depend strongly on R and vertical bar Z vertical bar. We interpret the median sequences with a semi-empirical "two-process" model that describes both the ratio of core collapse and Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) contributions to each element and the metallicity dependence of the supernova yields. These observationally inferred trends can provide strong tests of supernova nucleosynthesis calculations. Our results lead to a relatively simple picture of abundance ratio variations in the Milky Way, in which the trends at any location can be described as the sum of two components with relative contributions that change systematically and smoothly across the Galaxy. Deviations from this picture and future extensions to other elements can provide further insights into the physics of stellar nucleosynthesis and unusual events in the Galaxy's history.

We present ALMA 0.87 mm continuum, HCO+ J = 4-3 emission line, and CO J = 3-2 emission line data of the disk of material around the young, Sun-like star PDS 70. These data reveal the existence of a possible two-component transitional disk system with a radial dust gap of 0.'' 42 +/- 0.'' 05, an azimuthal gap in the HCO+ J = 4-3 moment zero map, as well as two bridge-like features in the gas data. Interestingly these features in the gas disk have no analog in the dust disk making them of particular interest. We modeled the dust disk using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code HOCHUNK3D using a two-disk component. We find that there is a radial gap that extends from 15 to 60 au in all grain sizes, which differs from previous work.

We present an overview of the distributions of 11 elemental abundances in the Milky Way's (MW) inner regions, as traced by APOGEE stars released as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release. 14/15 (DR14/DR15), including O, Mg, Si, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Na, Al, and K. This sample spans similar to 4000 stars with R-GC <= 4.0 kpc, enabling the most comprehensive study to date of these abundances and their variations within the innermost few kiloparsecs of the MW. We describe the observed abundance patterns ([X/Fe]-[Fe/H]), compare to previous literature results and to patterns in stars at the solar Galactocentric radius (R-GC), and discuss possible trends with DR14/DR15 effective temperatures. We find that the position of the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] "knee" is nearly constant with R-GC, indicating a well-mixed star-forming medium or high levels of radial migration in the early inner Galaxy. We quantify the linear correlation between pairs of elements in different subsamples of stars and find that these relationships vary; some abundance correlations are very similar between the alpha-rich and alpha-poor stars, but others differ significantly, suggesting variations in the metallicity dependencies of certain supernova yields. These empirical trends will form the basis for more detailed future explorations and for the refinement of model comparison metrics. That the inner MW abundances appear dominated by a single chemical evolutionary track and that they extend to such high metallicities underscore the unique importance of this part of the Galaxy for constraining the ingredients of chemical evolution modeling and for improving our understanding of the evolution of the Galaxy as a whole.

This is the first in a series of papers examining the demographics of star-forming (SF) galaxies at 0.2 < z < 2.5 in CANDELS. We study 9100 galaxies from GOODS-S and UDS, having published values of redshifts, masses, star formation rates (SFRs), and dust attenuation (Av) derived from UV-optical spectral energy distribution fitting. In agreement with previous works, we find that the UVJ colors of a galaxy are closely correlated with its specific star formation rate (SSFR) and A(v). We define rotated UVJ coordinate axes, termed S-SED and C-SED, that are parallel and perpendicular to the SF sequence and derive a quantitative calibration that predicts SSFR from C-SED with an accuracy of-0.2 dex. SFRs from UV-optical fitting and from UV-FIR values based on Spitzer IMIPS 24 itm agree well overall, but systematic differences of order 0.2 dex exist at high and low redshifts. A novel plotting scheme conveys the evolution of multiple galaxy properties simultaneously, and dust growth, as well as star formation decline and quenching, exhibit "mass-accelerated evolution" ("downsizing"). A population of transition galaxies below the SF main sequence is identified. These objects are located between SF and quiescent galaxies in UVJ space, and have lower Av and smaller radii than galaxies on the main sequence. Their properties are consistent with their being in transit between the two regions. The relative numbers of quenched, transition, and SF galaxies are given as a function of mass and redshift.

Centaurus A (Cen A) is a bright radio source associated with the nearby galaxy NGC 5128 where high-resolution radio observations can probe the jet at scales of less than a light day. The South Pole Telescope (SPT) and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment performed a single-baseline very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observation of Cen A in 2015 January as part of VLBI receiver deployment for the SPT. We measure the correlated flux density of Cen A at a wavelength of 1.4 mm on a similar to 7000 km (5 G lambda) baseline. Ascribing this correlated flux density to the core, and with the use of a contemporaneous short-baseline flux density from a Submillimeter Array observation, we infer a core brightness temperature of 1.4 x 10(11) K. This is close to the equipartition brightness temperature, where the magnetic and relativistic particle energy densities are equal. Under the assumption of a circular Gaussian core component, we derive an upper limit to the core size phi = 34.0 +/- 1.8 mu as, corresponding to 120 Schwarzschild radii for a black hole mass of 5.5 x. 10(7) M-circle dot.