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Abstract Thwaites Glacier represents 15% of the ice discharge from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and influences a wider catchment 1–3 . Because it is grounded below sea level 4,5 , Thwaites Glacier is thought to be susceptible to runaway retreat triggered at the grounding line (GL) at which the glacier reaches the ocean 6,7 . Recent ice-flow acceleration 2,8 and retreat of the ice front 8–10 and GL 11,12 indicate that ice loss will continue. The relative impacts of mechanisms underlying recent retreat are however uncertain. Here we show sustained GL retreat from at least 2011 to 2020 and resolve mechanisms of ice-shelf melt at the submetre scale. Our conclusions are based on observations of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) from an underwater vehicle, extending from the GL to 3 km oceanward and from the ice–ocean interface to the sea floor. These observations show a rough ice base above a sea floor sloping upward towards the GL and an ocean cavity in which the warmest water exceeds 2 °C above freezing. Data closest to the ice base show that enhanced melting occurs along sloped surfaces that initiate near the GL and evolve into steep-sided terraces. This pronounced melting along steep ice faces, including in crevasses, produces stratification that suppresses melt along flat interfaces. These data imply that slope-dependent melting sculpts the ice base and acts as an important response to ocean warming. 

We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis on the family Euteliidae to clarify deep divergences and elucidate evolutionary relationships at the level of the subfamily, tribe, and genus. Our dataset consists of 6.3 kbp of one mitochondrial and seven nuclear DNA loci and was analysed using model‐based phylogenetic methods, that is, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Based on the recovered topology, we recognize two subfamilies, Euteliinae and Stictopterinae, and the tribes Stictopterini and Odontini. We identify apomorphic morphological character states for Euteliidae and its component subfamilies and tribes. Several genera (e.g.,Targalla, Paectes, Marathyssa, Eutelia) were found polyphyletic and require taxonomic revision. Two new genera (NiklasteliaZahiri & Hollowaygen.nov.andPellinenteliaHolloway & Zahirigen.nov.) are described and a number of taxonomic changes (new combinations and new synonymies) are established. The Neotropical genusThyriodes, currently included in Euteliidae, is found to be associated with Erebinae (Erebidae). The divergence time estimate for the split between the Euteliidae and Noctuidae is at 53 Ma, and the Euteliidae subfamilies Euteliinae and Stictopterinae are estimated to have diverged at 42 Ma. In Stictopterinae, the tribes Stictopterini and Odontodini split at 31 Ma, while Euteliinae began diversifying at 34 Ma. Malpighiales are inferred to have been the ancestral larval hostplant order for Euteliidae. The ancestors of Stictopterinae also appear to have been Malpighiales feeders, but then diverged to Malvales specialists (Odontodini) and Malpighiales specialists (Stictopterini) hostplants. Larvae of Stictopterini appear to be restricted primarily to Clusiaceae, apart from a few records from Dipterocarpaceae. In Euteliinae, Anacardiaceae are predominant as larval hosts. Thus, all hosts in the family are lactiferous, possibly providing some degree of pre‐adaptation for exploiting Dipterocarpaceae.

 

ABSTRACT We present chemical abundances for 21 elements (from Li to Eu) in 150 metal-poor Galactic stars spanning −4.1 < [Fe/H] < −2.1. The targets were selected from the SkyMapper survey and include 90 objects with [Fe/H] ≤ −3 of which some 15 have [Fe/H] ≤ −3.5. When combining the sample with our previous studies, we find that the metallicity distribution function has a power-law slope of Δ(log N)/Δ[Fe/H] = 1.51 ± 0.01 dex per dex over the range −4 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ −3. With only seven carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in the sample, we again find that the selection of metal-poor stars based on SkyMapper filters is biased against highly carbon-rich stars for [Fe/H] > −3.5. Of the 20 objects for which we could measure nitrogen, 11 are nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor (NEMP) stars. Within our sample, the high NEMP fraction (55 per cent ± 21 per cent) is compatible with the upper range of predicted values (between 12 per cent and 35 per cent). The chemical abundance ratios [X/Fe] versus [Fe/H] exhibit similar trends to previous studies of metal-poor stars and Galactic chemical evolution models. We report the discovery of nine new r-I stars, four new r-II stars, one of which is the most metal-poor known, nine low-α stars with [α/Fe] ≤ 0.15 as well as one unusual star with [Zn/Fe] = +1.4 and [Sr/Fe] = +1.2 but with normal [Ba/Fe]. Finally, we combine our sample with literature data to provide the most extensive view of the early chemical enrichment of the Milky Way Galaxy. 

ABSTRACT In this work, we combine spectroscopic information from the SkyMapper survey for Extremely Metal-Poor stars and astrometry from Gaia DR2 to investigate the kinematics of a sample of 475 stars with a metallicity range of $-6.5 \le \rm [Fe/H] \le -2.05$ dex. Exploiting the action map, we identify 16 and 40 stars dynamically consistent with the Gaia Sausage and Gaia Sequoia accretion events, respectively. The most metal poor of these candidates have metallicities of $\rm [Fe/H]=-3.31\, \mathrm{ and }\, -3.74$, respectively, helping to define the low-metallicity tail of the progenitors involved in the accretion events. We also find, consistent with other studies, that ∼21 per cent of the sample have orbits that remain confined to within 3 kpc of the Galactic plane, that is, |Zmax| ≤ 3 kpc. Of particular interest is a subsample (∼11 per cent of the total) of low |Zmax| stars with low eccentricities and prograde motions. The lowest metallicity of these stars has [Fe/H] = –4.30 and the subsample is best interpreted as the very low-metallicity tail of the metal-weak thick disc population. The low |Zmax|, low eccentricity stars with retrograde orbits are likely accreted, while the low |Zmax|, high eccentricity pro- and retrograde stars are plausibly associated with the Gaia Sausage system. We find that a small fraction of our sample (∼4 per cent of the total) is likely escaping from the Galaxy, and postulate that these stars have gained energy from gravitational interactions that occur when infalling dwarf galaxies are tidally disrupted. 

The futureRicochetexperiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, theRicochetCollaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present theRicochetneutron background characterization using$$^3$$${}^3$He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to theRicochetGeant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the futureRicochetexperiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that theRicochetexperiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 $$\sigma $$$\sigma$for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.

 

Abstract An array of twelve 0.28 kg lithium molybdate (LMO) low-temperature bolometers equipped with 16 bolometric Ge light detectors, aiming at optimization of detector structure for CROSS and CUPID double-beta decay experiments, was constructed and tested in a low-background pulse-tube-based cryostat at the Canfranc underground laboratory in Spain. Performance of the scintillating bolometers was studied depending on the size of phonon NTD-Ge sensors glued to both LMO and Ge absorbers, shape of the Ge light detectors (circular vs. square, from two suppliers), in different light collection conditions (with and without reflector, with aluminum coated LMO crystal surface). The scintillating bolometer array was operated over 8 months in the low-background conditions that allowed to probe a very low, μBq/kg, level of the LMO crystals radioactive contamination by 228 Th and 226 Ra.