Confirmation of a Sub-Saturn-size Transiting Exoplanet Orbiting a G Dwarf:TOI-1194 b and a Very Low Mass Companion Star: TOI-1251 B from TESS

We report the confirmation of a sub-Saturn-size exoplanet,TOI-1194 b,with a mass of about 0.456+0.055-0.051M_(J),and a very low mass companion star with a mass of about 96.5±1.5 MJ,TOI-1251 B.Exoplanet candidates provided by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS)are suitable for further follow-up observations by ground-based telescopes with small and medium apertures.The analysis is performed based on data from several telescopes worldwide,including telescopes in the Sino-German multiband photometric campaign,which aimed at confirming TESS Objects of Interest(TOIs)using ground-based small-aperture and medium-aperture telescopes,especially for long-period targets.TOI-1194 b is confirmed based on the consistent periodic transit depths from the multiband photometric data.We measure an orbital period of 2.310644±0.000001 days,the radius is 0.767+0.045-0.041RJ and the amplitude of the RV curve is 69.4_(-7.3)^(+7.9)m s^(-1).TOI-1251 B is confirmed based on the multiband photometric and high-resolution spectroscopic data,whose orbital period is 5.963054+0.000002-0.000001days,radius is 0.947+0.035-0.033 R_(J) and amplitude of the RV curve is 9849_(-40)^(+42)ms^(-1).

Following up the afterglow:strategy for X-ray observation triggered by gravitational wave events

The multi-messenger observation of coalescing compact binary systems promises great scientific treasure.However,synthesising observations from both gravitational wave and electromagnetic channels remains challenging.In the context of the day-to-week long emission from a macronova,the binary neutron star merger GW170817 remains the only event with successful electromagnetic followup.In this manuscript,we explore the possibility of using the early stage X-ray afterglow to search for the electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational wave event.Two algorithms,the simple and straightforward sequential observation(SO)and the step-wise optimizing local optimization are considered and applied to some simulated events.We consider the WXT from the proposed Einstein Probe as a candidate X-ray telescope,which has a very wide field of view of 3600 deg^(2).Benefiting from the large field of view and high sensitivity,we find that the SO algorithm not only is easy to implement,but also promises a good chance of actual detection.

NuSTAR View of the R-ΓCorrelation in the Hard State of Black Hole Lowmass X-Ray Binaries

The power law and reflection emission have been observed in the X-ray spectra of both black hole X-ray binaries(BHXRBs)and active galactic nuclei(AGNs),indicating a common physical origin of the X-ray emission from these two types of sources.The relevant parameters describing the shape of both components and the potential correlation between these parameters can provide important clues on the geometric and physical properties of the disk and the corona in these sources.In this work,we present a positive correlation between the photon indexΓand the reflection strength R for the low-mass BHXRBs in the hard state by modeling NuSTAR data,which is qualitatively consistent with the previous studies.We compare our results with the predictions from different theoretical disk-corona models.We show that the RIT correlation found in this work seems to favor the moving corona model proposed by Beloborodov.Our results indicate that the coronal geometry varies significantly among BHXRBs.We further compare our results with that of AGNs.We find that the reflection strength R is smaller than unity in the hard state of BHXRBs,while it can be as large as~5 in AGNs,which implies that the variations of the disk-coronal geometry of AGNs are more vigorous than that of the BHXRBs in the hard state.

The Tianlin Mission:A 6m UV/Opt/IR Space Telescope to Explore Habitable Worlds and the Universe

It is expected that ongoing and future space-borne planet survey missions including Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS),PLATO and Earth 2.0 will detect thousands of small to medium-sized planets via the transit technique,including over a hundred habitable terrestrial rocky planets.To conduct a detailed study of these terrestrial planets,particularly the cool ones with wide orbits,the exoplanet community has proposed various follow-up missions.The currently proposed European Space Agency mission Ariel is the first step for this purpose,and it is capable of characterization of planets down to warm super-Earths mainly using transmission spectroscopy.The NASA Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor mission proposed in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey white paper will endeavor to further identify habitable rocky planets,and is expected to launch around 2045.In the meanwhile,China is funding a concept study of a 6 m class space telescope named Tianlin(a UV/Opt/NIR large aperture space telescope)that aims to start its operation within the next 10–15 yr and last for 5+yr.Tianlin will be primarily aimed at the discovery and characterization of rocky planets in the habitable zones around nearby stars and to search for potential biosignatures mainly using the direct imaging method.Transmission and emission spectroscopy at moderate to high resolution will be carried out as well on a population of exoplanets to strengthen the understanding of the formation and evolution of exoplanets.It will also be utilized to perform in-depth studies of the cosmic web and early galaxies,and constrain the nature of dark matter and dark energy.We describe briefly the primary scientific motivations and main technical considerations based on our preliminary simulation results.We find that a monolithic off-axis space telescope with primary mirror diameter larger than 6 m equipped with a high contrast coronagraph can identify water in the atmosphere of a habitable-zone Earth-like planet around a Sunlike star.More simulations for the detectability of other key biosignatures including O_(3),O_(2),CH_(4)and chlorophyll are coming.

HiFAST:An HIdata calibration and imaging pipeline for FAST

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST)has the largest aperture and a 19-beam L-band receiver,making it powerful for investigating the neutral hydrogen atomic gas(HI)in the universe.We present HiFAST(https://hifast.readthedocs.io),a dedicated,modular,and self-contained calibration and imaging pipeline for processing the H?data of FAST.The pipeline consists of frequency-dependent noise diode calibration,baseline fitting,standing wave removal using an FFT-based method,flux density calibration,stray radiation correction,and gridding to produce data cubes.These modules can be combined as needed to process the data from most FAST observation modes:tracking,drift scanning,On-The-Fly mapping,and most of their variants.With HiFAST,the root-mean-square(RMS)noises of the calibrated spectra from all 19 beams were only slightly(~5%)higher than the theoretical expectation.The results for the extended source M33 and the point sources are consistent with the results from Arecibo.The moment maps(0,1 and 2)of M33 agree well with the results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey(AGES)with a fractional difference of less than 10%.For a common sample of 221 sources with signal-to-noise ratio S/N>10 from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA(ALFALFA)survey,the mean value of fractional difference in the integrated flux density,Sint,between the two datasets is approximately 0.005%,with a dispersion of 15.4%.Further checks on the integrated flux density of 23 sources with seven observations indicate that the variance in the flux density of the source with luminous objects(Sint>2.5 Jy km s-1)is less than 5%.Our tests suggest that the FAST telescope,with the efficient,precise,and user-friendly pipeline HiFAST,will yield numerous significant scientific findings in the investigation of the H?in the universe.

The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP

In this paper we present the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP. eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. The mission aims at determining the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, measuring effects of QED, and understanding the dynamics of matter in strong-field gravity. In addition to investigating fundamental physics, eXTP will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects. In particular, its wide field monitoring capabilities will be highly instrumental to detect the electro-magnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources.The paper provides a detailed description of:(1) the technological and technical aspects, and the expected performance of the instruments of the scientific payload;(2) the elements and functions of the mission, from the spacecraft to the ground segment.