Rotating Massive Strangeon Stars and X-Ray Plateau of Short GRBs

Strangeon stars,which are proposed to describe the nature of pulsar-like compact stars,have passed various observational tests.The maximum mass of a non-rotating strangeon star could be high,which implies that the remnants of binary strangeon star mergers could even be long-lived massive strangeon stars.We study rigidly rotating strangeon stars in the slowly rotating approximation,using the Lennard-Jones model for the equation of state.Rotation can significantly increase the maximum mass of strangeon stars with unchanged baryon numbers,enlarging the mass-range of long-lived strangeon stars.During spin-down after merger,the decrease of radius of the remnant will lead to the release of gravitational energy.Taking into account the efficiency of converting the gravitational energy luminosity to the observed X-ray luminosity,we find that the gravitational energy could provide an alternative energy source for the plateau emission of X-ray afterglow.The fitting results of X-ray plateau emission of some short gamma-ray bursts suggest that the magnetic dipole field strength of the remnants can be much smaller than that of expected when the plateau emission is powered only by spin-down luminosity of magnetars.

Free Energy of Anisotropic Strangeon Stars

Can pulsar-like compact objects release further huge free energy besides the kinematic energy of rotation?This is actually relevant to the equation of state of cold supra-nuclear matter,which is still under hot debate.Enormous energy is surely needed to understand various observations,such asγ-ray bursts,fast radio bursts and softγ-ray repeaters.In this paper,the elastic/gravitational free energy of solid strangeon stars is revisited for strangeon stars,with two anisotropic models to calculate in general relativity.It is found that huge free energy(>10^(46)erg)could be released via starquakes,given an extremely small anisotropy((p_(t)-p_(r))/p_(r)~10^(-4),with pt/pr the tangential/radial pressure),implying that pulsar-like stars could have great potential of free energy release without extremely strong magnetic fields in the solid strangeon star model.

Variable Stars in the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey.Ⅲ.NGC 884

Open clusters are the basic building blocks that serve as a laboratory for the study of young stellar populations in the Milky Way.Variable stars in open clusters provide a unique way to accurately probe the internal structure,temporal and dynamical evolutionary stages of individual stars and the host cluster.The most powerful tool for such studies is time-domain photometric observations.This paper follows the route of our previous work,concentrating on a photometric search for variable stars in NGC 884.The target cluster is the companion of NGC869,forming the well-known double cluster system that is gravitationally bound.From the observation run in 2016 November,a total of 9247 B-band CCD images and 8218Ⅴ-band CCD images were obtained.We detected a total of 15 stars with variability in visual brightness,including five Be stars,three eclipsing binaries,and seven of unknown types.Two new variable stars were discovered in this work.We also compared the variable star content of NGC 884 with its companion NGC 869.

The Variability and Radial Velocity of Planetary Nebula Central Stars

The extremely accurate estimates of stellar variability and radial velocity in the Gaia Data Release 3(Gaia DR3)have enabled us to examine the close binarity and radial velocity(RV)of central stars(CSs)of planetary nebulae(PNe).This study is twofold:(1)searching for new close binary CS candidates to better understand how binarity affects the formation and evolution of PNe;and(2)extending the sample size of known RVs of PNe in order to understand their kinematics and the dynamics of the Milky Way.As a target sample,we used all true,possible,and likely PNe available in the literature.Then,we looked for their matched Gaia DR3 sources that provide measurements of variability and RV.As a result,we detected the first large collection of trustworthy photometric variability of 26 symbiotic stars and 82 CSs.In this CS group,there are 24 sources already classified as true close binary CSs in the literature.Hence,we discovered 58 new close binary CS candidates.This close binary(CB)sample represents more than half of what is currently available in the literature.In addition,we identified the radial velocities for 51 PNe.To our knowledge,24 of these were measured for the first time.The RV measurements predicted by Gaia,based on the Doppler shift of the CS absorption lines,and those derived from nebular emission lines,show satisfactory agreement except for a few extremely high-velocity PNe.

Revise Thermal Winds of Remnant Neutron Stars in Gamma-Ray Bursts

It seems that the wealth of information revealed by the multi-messenger observations of the binary neutron star(NS)merger event,GW170817/GRB 170817A/kilonova AT2017gfo,places irreconcilable constraints to models of the prompt emission of this gamma-ray burst(GRB).The observed time delay between the merger of the two NSs and the trigger of the GRB and the thermal tail of the prompt emission can hardly be reproduced by these models simultaneously.We argue that the merger remnant should be an NS(last for,at least,a large fraction of 1 s),and that the difficulty can be alleviated by the delayed formation of the accretion disk due to the absorption of high-energy neutrinos emitted by the NS and the delayed emergence of effective viscosity in the disk.Further,we extend the consideration of the effect of the energy deposition of neutrinos emitted from the NS.If the NS is the central object of a GRB with a distance and duration similar to that of GRB 170817A,thermal emission of the thermal bubble inflated by the NS after the termination of accretion may be detectable.If our scenario is verified,it would be of interest to investigate the cooling of nascent NSs.

Magnetic Activity and Parameters of 43 Flare Stars in the GWAC Archive

In the archive of the Ground Wide Angle Camera(GWAC),we found 43 white light flares from 43 stars,among which,three are sympathetic or homologous flares,and one of them also has a quasi-periodic pulsation with a period of 13.0±1.5 minutes.Among these 43 flare stars,there are 19 new active stars and 41 stars that have available TESS and/or K2 light curves,from which we found 931 stellar flares.We also obtained rotational or orbital periods of 34 GWAC flare stars,of which 33 are less than 5.4 days,and ephemerides of three eclipsing binaries from these light curves.Combining with low resolution spectra from LAMOST and the Xinglong 2.16 m telescope,we found that L_(Hα)/L_(bol) are in the saturation region in the rotation-activity diagram.From the LAMOST medium-resolution spectrum,we found that Star#3(HAT 178-02667)has double Hαemissions which imply it is a binary,and two components are both active stars.Thirteen stars have flare frequency distributions(FFDs)from TESS and/or K2 light curves.These FFDs show that the flares detected by GWAC can occur at a frequency of 0.5to 9.5 yr^(-1).The impact of flares on habitable planets was also studied based on these FFDs,and flares from some GWAC flare stars may produce enough energetic flares to destroy ozone layers,but none can trigger prebiotic chemistry on their habitable planets.

Searching For Wide Binary Stars with Non-coeval Components in the Southern Sky

We have completed our observational program to search for wide binary systems with non-coeval components in the southern sky and report our results here.The final set of four systems was spectroscopically investigated in this paper.No binary systems with components of different ages were found among them.Taking into account our previous studies,we estimate the fraction of such binaries(i.e.,binaries formed,presumably,by capture)to be not higher than 0.06%.The study will be continued on the northern sky.

Identifying Symbiotic Stars with Machine Learning

Symbiotic stars are interacting binary systems, making them valuable for studying various astronomical phenomena, such as stellar evolution, mass transfer, and accretion processes. Despite recent progress in the discovery of symbiotic stars, a significant discrepancy between the observed population of symbiotic stars and the number predicted by theoretical models. To bridge this gap, this study utilized machine learning techniques to efficiently identify new symbiotic star candidates. Three algorithms(XGBoost, LightGBM, and Decision Tree)were applied to a data set of 198 confirmed symbiotic stars and the resulting model was then used to analyze data from the LAMOST survey, leading to the identification of 11,709 potential symbiotic star candidates. Out of these potential symbiotic star candidates listed in the catalog, 15 have spectra available in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) survey. Among these 15 candidates, two candidates, namely V^(*)V603 Ori and V^(*)GN Tau, have been confirmed as symbiotic stars. The remaining 11 candidates have been classified as accreting-only symbiotic star candidates. The other two candidates, one of which has been identified as a galaxy by both SDSS and LAMOST surveys, and the other identified as a quasar by SDSS survey and as a galaxy by LAMOST survey.

Probing the Internal Physics of Neutron Stars through the Observed Braking Indices and Magnetic Tilt Angles of Several Young Pulsars

The braking indices of pulsars may contain important information about the internal physics of neutron stars(NSs),such as neutron superfluidity and internal magnetic fields.As a subsequent paper of Cheng et al.,we perform the same analysis as that done in the previous paper to other young pulsars with a steady braking index,n.Combining the timing data of these pulsars with the theory of magnetic field decay,and using their measured magnetic tilt angles,we can set constraints on the number of precession cycles,ξ,which represents the interactions between superfluid neutrons and other particles in the NS interior.For the pulsars considered in this paper,the results show thatξis within the range of a few×10~3 to a few×10~6.Interestingly,for the Crab and Vela pulsars,the constraints onξobtained with our method are generally consistent with that derived from modeling of the glitch rise behaviors of the two pulsars.Furthermore,we find that the internal magnetic fields of pulsar with n<3 may be dominated by the toroidal components.Our results may not only help to understand the interactions between the superfluid neutrons and other particles in the interior of NSs but also be important for the study of continuous gravitational waves from pulsars.

An Update of the Catalog of Radial Velocity Standard Stars from the APOGEE DR17

We present an updated catalog of 46,753 radial velocity(RV)standard stars selected from the APOGEE DR17.These stars cover the Northern and Southern Hemispheres almost evenly,with 62%being red giants and 38%being main sequence stars.These RV standard stars are stable on a baseline longer than 200 days(with 54%longer than one year and 10%longer than five years)with a median stability better than 215 m s~(-1).The average number of observations of those stars is 5 and each observation is required to have signal-to-noise ratio greater than50 and RV measurement error smaller than 500 m s~(-1).Based on the new APOGEE RV standard star catalog,we have checked the RV zero-points(RVZPs)for current large-scale stellar spectroscopic surveys including RAVE,LAMOST,GALAH and Gaia.By careful analysis,we estimate their mean RVZP to be+0.149 kms~(-1),+4.574 km s~(-1)(for LRS),-0.031 km s~(-1)and+0.014 kms~(-1),respectively,for the four surveys.In the RAVE,LAMOST(for MRS),GALAH and Gaia surveys,RVZP exhibits a systematic trend with stellar parameters(mainly[Fe/H],T_(eff),log g,G_(BP)-G_(RP)and G_(RVS)).The corrections to those small but clear RVZPs are of vital importance for these massive spectroscopic surveys in various studies that require extremely high RV accuracies.

A Catalog of Collected Debris Disks:Properties,Classifications and Correlations between Disks and Stars/Planets

We have collected a catalog of 1095 debris disks with properties and classification(resolved,planet,gas)information.From the catalog,we defined a less biased sample with 612 objects and presented the distributions of their stellar and disk properties to search for correlations between disks and stars.We found debris disks were widely distributed from B to M-type stars while planets were mostly found around solar-type stars,gases were easier to detect around early-type stars and resolved disks were mostly distributed from A to G-type stars.The fractional luminosity dropped off with stellar age and planets were mostly found around old stars while gas-detected disks were much younger.The dust temperature of both one-belt systems and cold components in two-belt systems increased with distance while decreasing with stellar age.In addition,we defined a less biased planet sample with 211 stars with debris disks but no planets and 35 stars with debris disks and planets and found the stars with debris disks and planets had higher metallicities than stars with debris disks but no planets.Among the 35 stars with debris disks and planets,we found the stars with disks and cool Jupiters were widely distributed with age from 10 Myr to 10 Gyr and metallicity from-1.56 to 0.28 while the other three groups tended to be old(>4Gyr)and metal-rich(>-0.3).In addition,the eccentricities of cool Jupiters are distributed from 0 to 0.932,wider than the other three types of planets(<0.3).

Two-dimensional Parameter Relationships for W UMa-type Systems Revisited

Reviewing the empirical and theoretical parameter relationships between various parameters is a good way to understand more about contact binary systems.In this investigation,two-dimensional(2D)relationships for P–MV(system),P–L1,2,M1,2–L1,2,and q–Lratiowere revisited.The sample used is related to 118 contact binary systems with an orbital period shorter than 0.6 days whose absolute parameters were estimated based on the Gaia Data Release 3 parallax.We reviewed previous studies on 2D relationships and updated six parameter relationships.Therefore,Markov chain Monte Carlo and Machine Learning methods were used,and the outcomes were compared.We selected 22 contact binary systems from eight previous studies for comparison,which had light curve solutions using spectroscopic data.The results show that the systems are in good agreement with the results of this study.

Periodic Variation Studies of the Two Short Period W UMa-type Eclipsing Binaries: LX Lyn and V0853 Aur

In this paper,new light curves(LCs) of contact eclipsing binary(CEB) systems LX Lyn and V0853 Aur are presented and analyzed by using the 2015 version of the Wilson-Devinney(W-D) code.In order to explain their asymmetric LCs,cool starspots on the components were employed.It is suggested that their fill-out degrees are f=12.0%(LX Lyn) and f=26.3%(V0853 Aur).At the same time,we found that LX Lyn is a W-type eclipsing binary(EB) with an orbital inclination of i=84°.88 and a mass ratio of q=2.31.V0853 Aur is also a W-type CEB with a mass ratio of q=2.77 and an orbital inclination of i= 79°.26.Based on all available times of light minimum,their orbital period changes are studied by using the O-C method.The O-C diagram of LX Lyn reveals a cyclic oscillation with a period of about 14.84 yr and an amplitude of 0.0019 days,which can be explained by the light-travel time effect(LTTE) due to the presence of a third body with a minimum mass of0.06M_⊙.For V0853 Aur,it is discovered that the O-C diagram of the system also shows a cyclic oscillation with a period of 9.64 yr and an amplitude of 0.03365 days.The cyclic oscillation of V0853 Aur can be attributed to the LTTE by means of a third body with a mass no less than 3.77M_⊙.The third body may play an important role in the formation and evolution of these systems.

Research on Pulsar Time Steered Atomic Time Algorithm Based on DPLL

In today’s society,there is a wide demand for high-precision and high-stability time service in the fields of electric power,communication,transportation and finance.At present,the time standard in various countries is mainly based on atomic clocks,but the frequency drift of atomic clocks will affect the long-term stability performance.Compared with atomic clocks,millisecond pulsars have better long-term stability and can complement with the excellent short-term stability of atomic clocks.In order to improve the long-term stability of the atomic timescale,and then improve the timing accuracy,this paper proposes an algorithm for steering the atomic clock ensemble(ACE)by ensemble pulsar time(EPT)based on digital phase locked loop(DPLL).First,the ACE and EPT are generated by the ALGOS algorithm,then the ACE is steered by EPT based on DPLL to calibrate the long-term frequency drift of the atomic clock,so that the generated steered atomic time follows both the short-term stability characteristics of ACE and the long-term stability characteristics of EPT,and finally,the steered atomic time is used to calibrate the local cesium clock.The experimental results show that the long-term stability of atomic time after steering is improved by 2 orders of magnitude compared with that before steering,and the daily drift of a local cesium clock after calibration is less than 9.47 ns in 3 yr,3 orders of magnitude higher than that before calibration on accuracy.

A Fermi-LAT Study of Globular Cluster Dynamical Evolution in the Milky Way:Millisecond Pulsars as the Probe

Using archival Fermi-LAT data with a time span of~12 yr,we study the population of Millisecond Pulsars(MSPs)in Globular Clusters(GlCs)and investigate their dependence on cluster dynamical evolution in the Milky Way.We show that theγ-ray luminosity(L_(γ))and emissivity(i.e.,ε_(γ)=L_(γ)/M,with M the cluster mass)are good indicators of the population and abundance of MSPs in GlCs,and they are highly dependent on the dynamical evolution history of the host clusters.Specifically speaking,the dynamically older GlCs with more compact structures are more likely to have larger L_(γ)andε_(γ),and these trends can be summarized as strong correlations with cluster stellar encounter rateΓand the specific encounter rate(Λ=Γ/M),with L_(γ)∝Γ^(0.7±0.11)andε_(γ)∝Λ^(0.73±0.13)for dynamically normal GlCs.However,as GlCs evolve into deep core collapse,these trends are found to be reversed,implying that strong encounters may have lead to the disruption of Low-Mass X-ray Binaries and ejection of MSPs from core-collapsed systems.Besides,the GlCs are found to exhibit largerε_(γ)with increasing stellar mass function slope(ε_(γ)∝10^((0.52±0.1)α)),decreasing tidal radius(ε_(γ)∝R_(t)^(-10±0.22))and distances from the Galactic Center(GC,ε_(γ)∝R_(gc)^(-1.13±0.21)).These correlations indicate that,as GlCs losing kinetic energy and spiral in toward the GC,tidal stripping and mass segregation have a preference in leading to the loss of normal stars from GlCs,while MSPs are more likely to concentrate to cluster center and be deposited into the GC.Moreover,we gaugeε_(γ)of GlCs is~10-1000 times larger than the Galactic bulge,the latter is thought to reside thousands of unresolved MSPs and may be responsible for the GC 7-ray excess,which supports that GlCs are generous contributors to the population of MSPs in the GC.

A Comparative Study of the Power-law Relationship between the Pulse width and Energy of Precursor and Main Burst

In gamma-ray burst prompt emission,there is still no consistent conclusion if the precursor and main burst share the same origin.In this paper,we try to study this issue based on the relationship between pulse width and energy of the precursor and main burst.We systematically search the light curve data observed by Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM,and find 13 long bursts with well-structured precursors and main bursts.After fitting the precursor light curve of each different energy channel with the Norris function,we find that there is not only a power-law relationship between precursor width and energy,but also a power-law relationship between the ratio of the rising width to the decaying width and energy.By comparing the relationship between the precursors and the main burst pulses,we find that the distribution of the precursors and the relationship between the power-law indices are roughly the same as those of the main burst.In addition,it is found that the precursor width distribution as well as the upper limit of the pulse width ratio does not exceed 1 and both are asymmetric,which are also consistent with the main burst.These indicate that the precursor and the main burst are indistinguishable,and the precursor and the main burst may have the same physical origin.

Dealing with the Data Imbalance Problem in Pulsar Candidate Sifting Based on Feature Selection

Pulsar detection has become an active research topic in radio astronomy recently.One of the essential procedures for pulsar detection is pulsar candidate sifting(PCS),a procedure for identifying potential pulsar signals in a survey.However,pulsar candidates are always class-imbalanced,as most candidates are non-pulsars such as RFI and only a tiny part of them are from real pulsars.Class imbalance can greatly affect the performance of machine learning(ML)models,resulting in a heavy cost as some real pulsars are misjudged.To deal with the problem,techniques of choosing relevant features to discriminate pulsars from non-pulsars are focused on,which is known as feature selection.Feature selection is a process of selecting a subset of the most relevant features from a feature pool.The distinguishing features between pulsars and non-pulsars can significantly improve the performance of the classifier even if the data are highly imbalanced.In this work,an algorithm for feature selection called the K-fold Relief-Greedy(KFRG)algorithm is designed.KFRG is a two-stage algorithm.In the first stage,it filters out some irrelevant features according to their K-fold Relief scores,while in the second stage,it removes the redundant features and selects the most relevant features by a forward greedy search strategy.Experiments on the data set of the High Time Resolution Universe survey verified that ML models based on KFRG are capable of PCS,correctly separating pulsars from non-pulsars even if the candidates are highly class-imbalanced.

Point-symmetry in SNR G1.9+0.3:A Supernova that Destroyed its Planetary Nebula Progenitor

I analyze a new X-ray image of the youngest supernova remnant(SNR)in the Galaxy,which is the type Ia SNR G1.9+0.3,and reveal a very clear point-symmetrical structure.Since explosion models of type Ia supernovae(SNe Ia)do not form such morphologies,the point-symmetrical morphology must come from the circumstellar material(CSM)into which the ejecta expands.The large-scale point-symmetry that I identify and the known substantial deceleration of the ejecta of SNR G1.9+0.3 suggest a relatively massive CSM of■1M⊙.I argue that the most likely explanation is the explosion of this SN Ia into a planetary nebula.The scenario that predicts a large fraction of SN Ia inside PNe(SNIPs)is the core degenerate scenario.Other SN Ia scenarios might lead to only a very small fraction of SNIPs or none at all.

GRB 200612A:An Ultralong Gamma-Ray Burst Powered by Magnetar Spinning Down

GRB 200612A could be classified as an ultralong gamma-ray burst due to its prompt emission lasting up to~1020 s and the true timescale of the central engine activity t_(burst)≥4×10^(4) s.The late X-ray light curve with a decay index ofα=7.53 is steeper than the steepest possible decay from an external shock model.We propose that this X-ray afterglow can be driven by dipolar radiation from the magnetar spindown during its early stage,while the magnetar collapsed into the black hole before its spindown,resulting in a very steep decay of the late X-ray light curve.The optical data show that the light curve is still rising after 1.1 ks,suggesting a late onset.We show that GRB 200612A’s optical afterglow light curve is fitted with the forward shock model by Gaussian structured off-axis jet.This is a special case among GRBs,as it may be an ultralong gamma-ray burst powered by a magnetar in an off-axis observation scenario.

Time-resolved Spectral Properties of Fermi-GBM Bright Long Gamma-Ray Bursts

The prompt emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts(GRBs)is still unclear,and the time-resolved spectral analysis of GRBs is a powerful tool for studying their underlying physical processes.We performed a detailed time-resolved spectral analysis of 78 bright long GRB samples detected by Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor.A total of 1490 spectra were obtained and their properties were studied using a typical Band-shape model.First,the parameter distributions of the time-resolved spectrum are given as follows:the low-energy spectral indexα~-0.72,high-energy spectral indexβ~2.42,the peak energy E_(p)~221.69 keV,and the energy flux F~7.49×10^(-6)erg cm^(-2)s^(-1).More than 80%of the bursts exhibit the hardest low-energy spectral indexα_(max),exceeding the synchrotron limit(-2/3).Second,the evolution patterns of a and E_(p)were statistically analyzed.The results show that for multi-pulse GRBs the intensity-tracking pattern is more common than the hard-to-soft pattern in the evolution of both E_(p)andα.The hard-to-soft pattern is generally shown in single-pulse GRBs or in the initial pulse of multi-pulse GRBs.Finally,we found a significant positive correlation between F and E_(p),with half of the samples exhibiting a positive correlation between F andα.We discussed the spectral evolution of different radiation models.The diversity of spectral evolution patterns indicates that there may be more than one radiation mechanism occurring in the GRB radiation process,including photo spheric radiation and synchrotron radiation.However,it may also involve only one radiation mechanism,but more complicated physical details need to be considered.