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ABSTRACT We report on the results of a simulation-based study of colliding magnetized plasma flows. Our set-up mimics pulsed power laboratory astrophysical experiments but, with an appropriate frame change, is relevant to astrophysical jets with internal velocity variations. We track the evolution of the interaction region where the two flows collide. Cooling via radiative losses is included in the calculation. We systematically vary plasma beta (βm) in the flows, the strength of the cooling (Λ0), and the exponent (α) of temperature dependence of the cooling function. We find that for strong magnetic fields a counter-propagating jet called a ‘spine’ is driven by pressure from shocked toroidal fields. The spines eventually become unstable and break apart. We demonstrate how formation and evolution of the spines depend on initial flow parameters and provide a simple analytical model that captures the basic features of the flow. 

Abstract We report the validation of multiple planets transiting the nearby (d= 12.8 pc) K5V dwarf HD 101581 (GJ 435, TOI–6276, TIC 397362481). This system consists of at least two Earth-size planets whose orbits are near a mutual 4:3 mean-motion resonance, HD 101581 b ( $R_p={0.956}_{-0.061}^{+0.063}{R}_{\oplus }$,P= 4.47 days) and HD 101581c ( $R_p={0.990}_{-0.070}^{+0.070}{R}_{\oplus }$,P= 6.21 days). Both planets were discovered in Sectors 63 and 64 TESS observations and statistically validated with supporting ground-based follow-up. We also identify a signal that probably originates from a third transiting planet, TOI-6276.03 ( $R_p={0.982}_{-0.098}^{+0.114}{R}_{\oplus }$,P= 7.87 days). These planets are remarkably uniform in size and their orbits are evenly spaced, representing a prime example of the “peas-in-a-pod” architecture seen in other compact multiplanet systems. AtV= 7.77, HD 101581 is the brightest star known to host multiple transiting planets smaller than 1.5R_⊕. HD 101581 is a promising system for atmospheric characterization and comparative planetology of small planets. 

Abstract We report superluminal jet motion with an apparent speed ofβ_app= 1.65 ± 0.57 in the radio-quiet (RQ) low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) galaxy KISSR 872. This result comes from two-epoch phase-referenced very long baseline interferometry observations at 5 GHz. The detection of bulk relativistic motion in the jet of this extremely radio-faint active galactic nucleus (AGN), with a total 1.4 GHz flux density of 5 mJy in the 5.″4 resolution Very Large Array FIRST survey image and 1.5 mJy in the ∼5 mas resolution Very Long Baseline Array image, is the first of its kind in an RQ LINER galaxy. The presence of relativistic jets in lower accretion rate objects like KISSR 872, with an Eddington ratio of 0.04, reveals that even RQ AGN can harbor relativistic jets and provides evidence of their universality over a wide range of accretion powers. 

Abstract The climatological mean barotropic vorticity budget is analyzed to investigate the relative importance of surface wind stress, topography, planetary vorticity advection, and nonlinear advection in dynamical balances in a global ocean simulation. In addition to a pronounced regional variability in vorticity balances, the relative magnitudes of vorticity budget terms strongly depend on the length‐scale of interest. To carry out a length‐scale dependent vorticity analysis in different ocean basins, vorticity budget terms are spatially coarse‐grained. At length‐scales greater than 1,000 km, the dynamics closely follow the Topographic‐Sverdrup balance in which bottom pressure torque, surface wind stress curl and planetary vorticity advection terms are in balance. In contrast, when including all length‐scales resolved by the model, bottom pressure torque and nonlinear advection terms dominate the vorticity budget (Topographic‐Nonlinear balance), which suggests a prominent role of oceanic eddies, which are of km in size, and the associated bottom pressure anomalies in local vorticity balances at length‐scales smaller than 1,000 km. Overall, there is a transition from the Topographic‐Nonlinear regime at scales smaller than 1,000 km to the Topographic‐Sverdrup regime at length‐scales greater than 1,000 km. These dynamical balances hold across all ocean basins; however, interpretations of the dominant vorticity balances depend on the level of spatial filtering or the effective model resolution. On the other hand, the contribution of bottom and lateral friction terms in the barotropic vorticity budget remains small and is significant only near sea‐land boundaries, where bottom stress and horizontal viscous friction generally peak. 

Abstract Early quantum mechanical models suggested that pressure drives solids towards free‐electron metal behavior where the ions are locked into simple close‐packed structures. The prediction and subsequent discovery of high‐pressure electrides (HPEs), compounds assuming open structures where the valence electrons are localized in interstitial voids, required a paradigm shift. Our quantum chemical calculations on the iconic insulating Na‐hP4 HPE show that increasing density causes a 3s→3pd electronic transition due to Pauli repulsion between the 1s2s and 3s states, and orthogonality of the 3pd states to the core. The large lobes of the resulting Na‐pd hybrid orbitals point towards the center of an 11‐membered penta‐capped trigonal prism and overlap constructively, forming multicentered bonds, which are responsible for the emergence of the interstitial charge localization in Na‐hP4. These multicentered bonds facilitate the increased density of this phase, which is key for its stabilization under pressure. 

Abstract In this paper, we aim to explore novel machine learning (ML) techniques to facilitate and accelerate the construction of universal equation-Of-State (EOS) models with a high accuracy while ensuring important thermodynamic consistency. When applying ML to fit a universal EOS model, there are two key requirements: (1) a high prediction accuracy to ensure precise estimation of relevant physics properties and (2) physical interpretability to support important physics-related downstream applications. We first identify a set of fundamental challenges from the accuracy perspective, including an extremely wide range of input/output space and highly sparse training data. We demonstrate that while a neural network (NN) model may fit the EOS data well, the black-box nature makes it difficult to provide physically interpretable results, leading to weak accountability of prediction results outside the training range and lack of guarantee to meet important thermodynamic consistency constraints. To this end, we propose a principled deep regression model that can be trained following a meta-learning style to predict the desired quantities with a high accuracy using scarce training data. We further introduce a uniquely designed kernel-based regularizer for accurate uncertainty quantification. An ensemble technique is leveraged to battle model overfitting with improved prediction stability. Auto-differentiation is conducted to verify that necessary thermodynamic consistency conditions are maintained. Our evaluation results show an excellent fit of the EOS table and the predicted values are ready to use for important physics-related tasks. 

Abstract The amount of vapor in the impact-generated protolunar disk carries implications for the dynamics, devolatilization, and moderately volatile element isotope fractionation during lunar formation. The equation of state (EoS) used in simulations of the giant impact is required to calculate the vapor mass fraction (VMF) of the modeled protolunar disk. Recently, a new version of M-ANEOS (Stewart M-ANEOS) was released with an improved treatment of heat capacity and expanded experimental Hugoniot. Here, we compare this new M-ANEOS version with a previous version (N-SPH M-ANEOS) and assess the resulting differences in smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. We find that Stewart M-ANEOS results in cooler disks with smaller values of VMF and in differences in disk mass that are dependent on the initial impact angle. We also assess the implications of the minimum “cutoff” density (ρ_c), similar to a maximum smoothing length, that is set as a fast-computing alternative to an iteratively calculated smoothing length. We find that the low particle resolution of the disk typically results in >40% of disk particles falling toρ_c, influencing the dynamical evolution and VMF of the disk. Our results show that the choice of EoS,ρ_c, and particle resolution can cause the VMF and disk mass to vary by tens of percent. Moreover, small values ofρ_cproduce disks that are prone to numerical instability and artificial shocks. We recommend that future giant impact SPH studies review smoothing methods and ensure the thermodynamic stability of the disk over simulated time. 

We present 50-fs, single-shot measurements of the x-ray thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) from copper foils that have been shocked via nanosecond laser ablation up to pressures above ∼135 GPa. We hence deduce the x-ray Debye–Waller factor, providing a temperature measurement. The targets were laser-shocked with the DiPOLE 100-X laser at the High Energy Density endstation of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser. Single x-ray pulses, with a photon energy of 18 keV, were scattered from the samples and recorded on Varex detectors. Despite the targets being highly textured (as evinced by large variations in the elastic scattering) and with such texture changing upon compression, the absolute intensity of the azimuthally averaged inelastic TDS between the Bragg peaks is largely insensitive to these changes, and allowing for both Compton scattering and the low-level scattering from a sacrificial ablator layer provides a reliable measurement of T/ΘD2, where ΘD is the Debye temperature. We compare our results with the predictions of the SESAME 3336 and LEOS 290 equations of state for copper and find good agreement within experimental errors. We, thus, demonstrate that single-shot temperature measurements of dynamically compressed materials can be made via thermal diffuse scattering of XFEL radiation. 

We describe a method for laser-driven planar compression of crystalline hydrogen that starts with a sample of solid para-hydrogen (even-valued rotational quantum number j) having an entropy of 0.06 kB/molecule at 10 K and 2 atm, with Boltzmann constant kB. Starting with this low-entropy state, the sample is compressed using a small initial shock (<0.2 GPa), followed by a pressure ramp that approaches isentropic loading as the sample is taken to hundreds of GPa. Planar loading allows for quantitative compression measurements; the objective of our low-entropy compression is to keep the sample cold enough to characterize crystalline hydrogen toward the terapascal range. 

Magnesium oxide (MgO) is a major component of the Earth’s mantle and is expected to play a similar role in the mantles of large rocky exoplanets. At extreme pressures, MgO transitions from the NaClB1 crystal structure to a CsClB2 structure, which may have implications for exoplanetary deep mantle dynamics. In this study, we constrain the phase diagram of MgO with laser-compression along the shock Hugoniot, with simultaneous measurements of crystal structure, density, pressure, and temperature. We identify theB1 toB2 phase transition between 397 and 425 gigapascal (around 9700 kelvin), in agreement with recent theory that accounts for phonon anharmonicity. From 425 to 493 gigapascal, we observe a mixed-phase region of B1 and B2 coexistence. The transformation follows the Watanabe-Tokonami-Morimoto mechanism. Our data are consistent withB2-liquid coexistence above 500 gigapascal and complete melting at 634 gigapascal. This study bridges the gap between previous theoretical and experimental studies, providing insights into the timescale of this phase transition.