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1. Streamflow Variability Indicated by False Rings in Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.)

   https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101100  

   Therrell, Matthew D. ; Elliott, Emily A. ; Meko, Matthew D. ; Bregy, Joshua C. ; Tucker, Clay S. ; Harley, Grant L. ; Maxwell, Justin T. ; Tootle, Glenn A. ( October 2020 , Forests)

   Despite growing in wet lowland and riparian settings, Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. (bald cypress) has a strong response to hydroclimate variability, and tree ring chronologies derived from bald cypress have been used extensively to reconstruct drought, precipitation and streamflow. Previous studies have also demonstrated that false rings in bald cypress appear to be the result of variations in water availability during the growing season. In this study 28 trees from two sites located adjacent to the Choctawhatchee River in Northwestern Florida, USA were used to develop a false ring record extending from 1881 to 2014. Twenty false ring events were recorded during the available instrumental era (1931–2014). This record was compared with daily and monthly streamflow data from a nearby gage. All 20 of the false-ring events recorded during the instrumental period occurred during years in which greatly increased streamflow occurred late in the growing season. Many of these wet events appear to be the result of rainfall resulting from landfalling tropical cyclones. We also found that the intra-annual position of false rings within growth rings reflects streamflow variability and combining the false-ring record with tree ring width chronologies improves the estimation of overall summer streamflow by 14%. Future work using these and other quantitative approaches for the identification and measurement of false ring variables in tree rings may improve tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow and potentially the record of tropical cyclone rainfall events. 

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2. SN 2023ixf in Messier 101: A Variable Red Supergiant as the Progenitor Candidate to a Type II Supernova

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ace4ca  

   Kilpatrick, Charles D. ; Foley, Ryan J. ; Jacobson-Galán, Wynn V. ; Piro, Anthony L. ; Smartt, Stephen J. ; Drout, Maria R. ; Gagliano, Alexander ; Gall, Christa ; Hjorth, Jens ; Jones, David O. ; et al ( July 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We present preexplosion optical and infrared (IR) imaging at the site of the type II supernova (SN II) 2023ixf in Messier 101 at 6.9 Mpc. We astrometrically registered a ground-based image of SN 2023ixf to archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer), and ground-based near-IR images. A single point source is detected at a position consistent with the SN at wavelengths ranging from HSTRband to Spitzer 4.5μm. Fitting with blackbody and red supergiant (RSG) spectral energy distributions (SEDs), we find that the source is anomalously cool with a significant mid-IR excess. We interpret this SED as reprocessed emission in a 8600R_⊙circumstellar shell of dusty material with a mass ∼5 × 10⁻⁵M_⊙surrounding a$\log (L/L_{\odot })=4.74\pm 0.07$and$T_{\mathrm{eff}}={3920}_{-160}^{+200}$K RSG. This luminosity is consistent with RSG models of initial mass 11M_⊙, depending on assumptions of rotation and overshooting. In addition, the counterpart was significantly variable in preexplosion Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5μm imaging, exhibiting ∼70% variability in both bands correlated across 9 yr and 29 epochs of imaging. The variations appear to have a timescale of 2.8 yr, which is consistent withκ-mechanism pulsations observed in RSGs, albeit with a much larger amplitude than RSGs such asαOrionis (Betelgeuse).

    

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3. Theoretical Analysis of Critical Conditions for Crack Formation and Propagation, and Optimal Operation of SOECs

   https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ac5fee  

   Wang, Yudong ; Virkar, Anil V. ; Khonsari, M. M. ; Zhou, Xiao-Dong ( April 2022 , Journal of The Electrochemical Society)

   A theoretical analysis on crack formation and propagation was performed based on the coupling between the electrochemical process, classical elasticity, and fracture mechanics. The chemical potential of oxygen, thus oxygen partial pressure, at the oxygen electrode-electrolyte interface (${\mu }_{O_2}^{\mathit{OE\mid El}}$) was investigated as a function of transport properties, electrolyte thickness and operating conditions (e.g., steam concentration, constant current, and constant voltage). Our analysis shows that: a lower ionic area specific resistance (ASR),$r_i^{OE},$and a higher electronic ASR ($r_e^{OE}$) of the oxygen electrode/electrolyte interface are in favor of suppressing crack formation. The${\mu }_{O_2}^{OE\mid El},$thus local pO₂, are sensitive towards the operating parameters under galvanostatic or potentiostatic electrolysis. Constant current density electrolysis provides better robustness, especially at a high current density with a high steam content. While constant voltage electrolysis leads to greater variations of${\mu }_{O_2}^{OE\mid El}.$Constant current electrolysis, however, is not suitable for an unstable oxygen electrode because${\mu }_{O_2}^{OE\mid El}$can reach a very high value with a gradually increased$r_i^{OE}.$A crack may only occur under certain conditions when$p_{O_2}^{TPB}>p_{cr}.$

    

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4. Bounds on cohomological support varieties

   https://doi.org/10.1090/btran/182  

   Briggs, Benjamin ; Grifo, Eloísa ; Pollitz, Josh ( March 2024 , Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Series B)

   Over a local ring$R$, the theory of cohomological support varieties attaches to any bounded complex$M$of finitely generated$R$-modules an algebraic variety${\mathrm {V}}_R(M)$that encodes homological properties of$M$. We give lower bounds for the dimension of${\mathrm {V}}_R(M)$in terms of classical invariants of$R$. In particular, when$R$is Cohen–Macaulay and not complete intersection we find that there are always varieties that cannot be realized as the cohomological support of any complex. When$M$has finite projective dimension, we also give an upper bound for$\dim {\mathrm {V}}_R(M)$in terms of the dimension of the radical of the homotopy Lie algebra of$R$. This leads to an improvement of a bound due to Avramov, Buchweitz, Iyengar, and Miller on the Loewy lengths of finite free complexes, and it recovers a result of Avramov and Halperin on the homotopy Lie algebra of$R$. Finally, we completely classify the varieties that can occur as the cohomological support of a complex over a Golod ring.

    

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5. X-Ray Emission from Candidate Stellar Merger Remnant TYC 2597-735-1 and Its Blue Ring Nebula

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac54a2  

   Günther, Hans Moritz ; Hoadley, Keri ; Günther, Maximilian N. ; Metzger, Brian D. ; Schneider, P. C. ; Shen, Ken J. ( March 2022 , The Astronomical Journal)

   Tight binary or multiple-star systems can interact through mass transfer and follow vastly different evolutionary pathways than single stars. The star TYC 2597-735-1 is a candidate for a recent stellar merger remnant resulting from a coalescence of a low-mass companion with a primary star a few thousand years ago. This violent event is evident in a conical outflow (“Blue Ring Nebula”) emitting in UV light and surrounded by leading shock filaments observed in Hαand UV emission. From Chandra data, we report the detection of X-ray emission from the location of TYC 2597-735-1 with a luminosity$\log (L_{\mathrm{X}}/L_{\mathrm{bol}})=-5.5$. Together with a previously reported period of ~14 days, this indicates ongoing stellar activity and the presence of strong magnetic fields on TYC 2597-735-1. Supported by stellar evolution models of merger remnants, we interpret the inferred stellar magnetic field as dynamo action associated with a newly formed convection zone in the atmosphere of TYC 2597-735-1, though internal shocks at the base of an accretion-powered jet cannot be ruled out. We speculate that this object will evolve into an FK Com–type source, i.e., a class of rapidly spinning magnetically active stars for which a merger origin has been proposed but for which no relic accretion or large-scale nebula remains visible. We also detect likely X-ray emission from two small regions close to the outer shock fronts in the Blue Ring Nebula, which may arise from inhomogeneities either in the circumstellar medium or in the mass and velocity distribution in the merger-driven outflow.

    

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