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Galaxy cluster mergers are representative of a wide range of physics, making them an excellent probe of the properties of dark matter and the ionized plasma of the intracluster medium. To date, most studies have focused on mergers occurring in the plane of the sky, where morphological features can be readily identified. To allow study of mergers with arbitrary orientation, we have assembled multi-probe data for the eight-cluster ICM-SHOX sample sensitive to both morphology and line of sight velocity. The first ICM-SHOX paper [1] provided an overview of our methodology applied to one member of the sample, MACS J0018.5+1626, in order to constrain its merger geometry. That work resulted in an exciting new discovery of a velocity space decoupling of its gas and dark matter distributions. In this work, we describe the availability and quality of multi-probe data for the full ICM-SHOX galaxy cluster sample. These datasets will form the observational basis of an upcoming full ICM-SHOX galaxy cluster sample analysis. 

ABSTRACT This paper provides a comprehensive overview of how fitting of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) is carried out within the upcoming Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s (DESI) 2024 results using its DR1 data set, and the associated systematic error budget from theory and modelling of the BAO. We derive new results showing how non-linearities in the clustering of galaxies can cause potential biases in measurements of the isotropic ($$\alpha _{\mathrm{iso}}$$) and anisotropic ($$\alpha _{\mathrm{ap}}$$) BAO distance scales, and how these can be effectively removed with an appropriate choice of reconstruction algorithm. We then demonstrate how theory leads to a clear choice for how to model the BAO and develop, implement, and validate a new model for the remaining smooth-broad-band (i.e. without BAO) component of the galaxy clustering. Finally, we explore the impact of all remaining modelling choices on the BAO constraints from DESI using a suite of high-precision simulations, arriving at a set of best practices for DESI BAO fits, and an associated theory and modelling systematic error. Overall, our results demonstrate the remarkable robustness of the BAO to all our modelling choices and motivate a combined theory and modelling systematic error contribution to the post-reconstruction DESI BAO measurements of no more than 0.1 per cent (0.2 per cent) for its isotropic (anisotropic) distance measurements. We expect the theory and best practices laid out to here to be applicable to other BAO experiments in the era of DESI and beyond. 

Abstract Reliable neutron star mass measurements are key to determining the equation of state of cold nuclear matter, but such measurements are rare. Black widows and redbacks are compact binaries consisting of millisecond pulsars and semi-degenerate companion stars. Spectroscopy of the optically bright companions can determine their radial velocities, providing inclination-dependent pulsar mass estimates. Although inclinations can be inferred from subtle features in optical light curves, such estimates may be systematically biased due to incomplete heating models and poorly understood variability. Using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, we have searched for gamma-ray eclipses from 49 spider systems, discovering significant eclipses in 7 systems, including the prototypical black widow PSR B1957+20. Gamma-ray eclipses require direct occultation of the pulsar by the companion, and so the detection, or significant exclusion, of a gamma-ray eclipse strictly limits the binary inclination angle, providing new robust, model-independent pulsar mass constraints. For PSR B1957+20, the eclipse implies a much lighter pulsar (1.81 ± 0.07 solar masses) than inferred from optical light curve modelling. 

Abstract We present cosmological results from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in galaxy, quasar and Lyman-αforest tracers from the first year of observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), to be released in the DESI Data Release 1. DESI BAO provide robust measurements of the transverse comoving distance and Hubble rate, or their combination, relative to the sound horizon, in seven redshift bins from over 6 million extragalactic objects in the redshift range 0.1 <z< 4.2. To mitigate confirmation bias, a blind analysis was implemented to measure the BAO scales. DESI BAO data alone are consistent with the standard flat ΛCDM cosmological model with a matter density Ω_m=0.295±0.015. Paired with a baryon density prior from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the robustly measured acoustic angular scale from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), DESI requiresH₀=(68.52±0.62) km s^-1Mpc^-1. In conjunction with CMB anisotropies fromPlanckand CMB lensing data fromPlanckand ACT, we find Ω_m=0.307± 0.005 andH₀=(67.97±0.38) km s^-1Mpc^-1. Extending the baseline model with a constant dark energy equation of state parameterw, DESI BAO alone requirew=-0.99^+0.15_-0.13. In models with a time-varying dark energy equation of state parametrised byw₀andw_a, combinations of DESI with CMB or with type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) individually preferw₀> -1 andw_a< 0. This preference is 2.6σfor the DESI+CMB combination, and persists or grows when SN Ia are added in, giving results discrepant with the ΛCDM model at the 2.5σ, 3.5σor 3.9σlevels for the addition of the Pantheon+, Union3, or DES-SN5YR supernova datasets respectively. For the flat ΛCDM model with the sum of neutrino mass ∑m_νfree, combining the DESI and CMB data yields an upper limit ∑m_ν< 0.072 (0.113) eV at 95% confidence for a ∑m_ν> 0 (∑m_ν> 0.059) eV prior. These neutrino-mass constraints are substantially relaxed if the background dynamics are allowed to deviate from flat ΛCDM. 

ABSTRACT The Fermi Large Area Telescope gamma-ray source 3FGL J2039.6–5618 contains a periodic optical and X-ray source that was predicted to be a ‘redback’ millisecond pulsar (MSP) binary system. However, the conclusive identification required the detection of pulsations from the putative MSP. To better constrain the orbital parameters for a directed search for gamma-ray pulsations, we obtained new optical light curves in 2017 and 2018, which revealed long-term variability from the companion star. The resulting orbital parameter constraints were used to perform a targeted gamma-ray pulsation search using the Einstein@Home-distributed volunteer computing system. This search discovered pulsations with a period of 2.65 ms, confirming the source as a binary MSP now known as PSR J2039–5617. Optical light-curve modelling is complicated, and likely biased, by asymmetric heating on the companion star and long-term variability, but we find an inclination i ≳ 60°, for a low pulsar mass between $$1.1\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot } \lt M_{\rm psr} \lt $$ 1.6 M⊙, and a companion mass of 0.15–$$0.22\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$, confirming the redback classification. Timing the gamma-ray pulsations also revealed significant variability in the orbital period, which we find to be consistent with quadrupole moment variations in the companion star, suggestive of convective activity. We also find that the pulsed flux is modulated at the orbital period, potentially due to inverse Compton scattering between high-energy leptons in the pulsar wind and the companion star’s optical photon field.