Employing wavelet and Fourier methods, we investigate temporal variations of periodicities in the photospheric fields obtained from synoptic magnetograms of the National Solar Observatory at Kitt Peak (NSO/KP) spanning the years 1975-2009. A north-south asymmetry is noticed in the periodicities of photospheric fields in the latitude range, 45°-78°, when the data is grouped into fields prior to and after 1996. This asymmetry when coupled with the fact that both solar fields in the latitude range, 45°-78°, and the micro-turbulence levels in the inner heliosphere began declining ~ 1995-1996 suggests that active changes occurred in the underlying basic solar processes which eventually initiated, at the end of solar cycle 23, the build-up of the deepest solar minimum, in the past 100 years.

Line emissions of high- and low-density molecular tracers serve as powerful diagnostic tools for the ISM in both Galactic and extragalactic star formation environments. The emission line strengths and line ratios may be interpreted using detailed modeling of both the dominant physics and the chemistry of the molecular constituents. Observed molecular line ratios will thus reveal the signatures of dominant UV, X-ray, and CR radiation fields and of mechanical heating and feedback from the star formation process. In addition, certain line ratios reflect the physical and chemical changes resulting from the time-evolution of a star formation region. In this paper, we present results of Galactic sources and extragalactic starbursts covering a large range of FIR luminosities and illustrate the similarities between the diagnostics of these environments.

Energetic outflow from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may play a critical role in galaxy evolution (e.g., Silk & Rees 1998). We present a velocity diagnostic for detecting gas outflow in the narrow-line region of Type-2 AGNs using line-of-sight velocity offsets of the [O iii] λ5007 and Hα emission lines with respect to the systemic velocity of stars in host galaxies (See Figure 1). We apply the diagnostics to nearby galaxies at 0.02 < z < 0.05, 3775 AGN-host and 907 star-forming galaxies as a comparison sample, which are selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7. After obtaining a best-fit stellar population model for the continuum and a systemic velocity based on stellar lines, we subtract the stellar component to measure velocity offsets of each emission line. We find a sample of 169 AGN-host galaxies with outflow signatures, displaying a larger velocity shift of [O iii] than that of Hα, as expected in a decelerating outflow model (Komossa et al. 2008). We find that the offset velocity of [O iii] increases with Eddington ratio, suggesting that gas outflow depends on the energetics of AGN.

Stellar magnetic fields can reliably be characterized by several magnetic activity indicators, such as X-ray or radio luminosity. Physical processes leading to such emission provide important information on dynamic processes in stellar atmospheres and magnetic structuring.

During the last stage of terrestrial planet formation, Mars-sized protoplanets often collides with each other. Our high-resolution impact simulations show that such giant impacts produce a significant amount of fragments within the terrestrial planet region. These ejected fragments form a hot debris disk around the central star. We calculated the evolution of the surface density and size distribution of the debris disk using the analytical model of collision disruption, and estimated its infrared excess emission. We found that 24 μm flux from the debris disk is higher than stellar flux throughout the giant impact stage (~ 108 years), which can explain the infrared excess recently observed around the star with the age of 107 – 108 years.

One of the scenarios for the formation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group proposes that the objects formed from late type dwarfs via tidal interaction with bigger galaxies such as the Milky Way and Andromeda. The scenario naturally explains the morphology-density relation observed for dwarf galaxies in the Local Group. Using N-body simulations we study the long-term tidal evolution of dwarf galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky Way. The dwarf galaxies were initially composed of stellar disks embedded in dark matter haloes of different inner density slopes including shallow ones recently obtained in N-body+hydro simulations of dwarf galaxy formation in isolation. Such progenitors were placed on five different orbits around the Milky Way and their evolution was followed for 10 Gyr. The outcome of the evolution, in terms of the mass loss, morphological transformation and randomization of stellar orbits depends very sensitively on the inner density slope of dark matter. The effects of tides are stronger for dwarfs with shallower slopes; they are more heavily stripped, in some cases down to the scale of ultra-faint satellites of the Milky Way or even dissolved completely with obvious implications for the missing satellites problem. The morphological evolution of the stellar component, from rotationally supported disks to spheroids dominated by random motions, also proceeds faster. In addition, bars which usually form at the first pericenter passage are created more easily and live longer in dwarfs with shallow dark matter density profiles on extended orbits.

The family of unidentified infrared emission features, consisting of discrete and plateau features in the mid-infrared, are now observed in distant galaxies. A significant fraction of the total energy output of some infrared galaxies is emitted in these features. Comparisons of these features with those observed in the circumstellar and interstellar media suggest that these organic species are synthesized and ejected by evolved stars. Models of possible chemical structures of the carrier of these features are discussed.

In a series of works - Török et al. (2010, 2012a) and Urbanec et al. (2010a) - we explored restrictions to neutron star properties that are implied by various models of twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillations. Here we sketch an attempt to confront the obtained mass–angular-momentum relations and limits on neutron star compactness with the parameters estimated by assuming various equations of state and the spin frequency of the atoll source 4U 1636-53.

We present a study of galaxy sizes in the local Universe as a function of galaxy environment, comparing clusters and the general field. Galaxies with radii and masses comparable to high-z massive and compact galaxies represent 4.4% of all galaxies more massive than 3 × 1010M⊙ in the field. Such galaxies are 3 times more frequent in clusters than in the field. Most of them are early-type galaxies with intermediate to old stellar populations. There is a trend of smaller radii for older luminosity-weighted ages at fixed galaxy mass. We show the relation between size and luminosity-weighted age for galaxies of different stellar masses and in different environments. We compare with high-z data to quantify the evolution of galaxy sizes. We find that, once the progenitor bias due to the relation between galaxy size and stellar age is removed, the average amount of size evolution of individual galaxies between high- and low-z is mild, of the order of a factor 1.6.

The X-ray dim isolated neutron stars (XDINSs) are peculiar pulsar-like objects, characterized by their very well Planck-like spectrum. In studying their spectral energy distributions, the optical/UV excess is a long standing problem. Recently, Kaplan et al. (2011) have measured the optical/UV excess for all seven sources, which is understandable in the resonant cyclotron scattering (RCS) model previously addressed. The RCS model calculations show that the RCS process can account for the observed optical/UV excess for most sources. The flat spectrum of RX J2143.0+0654 may due to contribution from bremsstrahlung emission of the electron system in addition to the RCS process.

Since Edwin Hubble introduced his famous tuning fork diagram more than 70 years ago, spiral galaxies and early-type galaxies (ETGs) have been regarded as two distinct families. The spirals are characterized by the presence of disks of stars and gas in rapid rotation, while the early-types are gas poor and described as spheroidal systems, with less rotation and often non-axisymmetric shapes. The separation is physically relevant as it implies a distinct path of formation for the two classes of objects. I will give an overview of recent findings, from independent teams, that motivated a radical revision to Hubble's classic view of ETGs. These results imply a much closer link between spiral galaxies and ETGs than generally assumed.

We studied the radio spectrum of PSR B1259-63 in an unique binary with Be star LS 2883 and showed that the shape of the spectrum depends on the orbital phase. We proposed a qualitative model which explains this evolution. We considered two mechanisms that might influence the observed radio emission: free-free absorption and cyclotron resonance. Recently published results have revealed a new aspect in pulsar radio spectra. There were found objects with turnover at high frequencies in spectra, called gigahertz-peaked spectra (GPS) pulsars. Most of them adjoin such interesting environments as HII regions or compact pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). Thus, it is suggested that the turnover phenomenon is associated with the environment than being related intrinsically to the radio emission mechanism. Having noticed the apparent resemblance between the B1259-63 spectrum and the GPS, we suggest that the same mechanisms should be responsible for both cases. Therefore, the case of B1259-63 can be treated as a key factor to explain the GPS phenomenon observed for the solitary pulsars with interesting environments and also another types of spectra (e.g. with break).

Extensive discoveries of variable stars in ground-based photometric surveys and in observations from space missions that provide unprecedented accuracy demonstrate that, till the most recent time, we knew only a tiny fraction of all detectable variable stars of our Galaxy. As a result, our knowledge on stellar variability types, related physical processes, variable-star statistics turn out to be based on an unrepresentative sample and are expected to be radically revised in the near future. The flow of new discoveries results in quite difficult problems for catalogs of variable stars, making it impossible to proceed in their compilation in the traditional way. Regretfully, automatic solutions are still not completely satisfying. Though not able to suggest a perfect way out, we present our vision of the future of variable-star research.

To determine the spectral energy distribution of galaxies in large numerical simulations, proper treatment of the attenuation is crucial. One of the most common methods in semi–analytic models is to compute the attenuation from the gas surface density. The aim of the present study is to provide new but still simple relations between the gas surface density and the optical depth, directly calibrated on galaxies. To do so we combine multi–wavelength data and perform a pixel–by–pixel analysis on a sample of nearby galaxies. Examination of the influence of these new relations on simulated FUV and IR luminosity functions shows a clear impact compared to older oft–used relations, which in turn could affect the conclusions drawn from studies based on large scale cosmological simulations.

We present long term site testing statistics based on DIMM and GSM data obtained at Dome C, Antarctica. These data have been collected on the bright star Canopus since the end of 2003. We give values of the integrated turbulence parameters in the visible (wavelength 500 nm). The median value we obtained for the seeing are 1.2 arcsec, 2.0 arcsec and 0.8 arcsec at respective elevations of 8m, 3m and 20m above the ground. The isoplanatic angle median value is 4.0 arcsec and the median outer scale is 7.5m. We found that both the seeing and the isoplanatic angle exhibit a strong dependence with the season (the seeing is larger in winter while the isoplanatic angle is smaller).

Results from a large, multi-J CO, 13CO, and HCN line survey of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs: LIR≥ 1010 L⊙) in the local Universe (z≤0.1), complemented by CO J=4–3 up to J=13–12 observations from the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO), paints a new picture for the average conditions of the molecular gas of the most luminous of these galaxies with turbulence and/or large cosmic ray (CR) energy densities UCR rather than far-UV/optical photons from star-forming sites as the dominant heating sources. Especially in ULIRGs (LIR>1012 L⊙) the Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs) can encompass at most a few % of their molecular gas mass while the large UCR∼ 103 UCR, Galaxy, and the strong turbulence in these merger/starbursts, can volumetrically heat much of their molecular gas to Tkin∼ (100-200) K, unhindered by the high dust extinctions. Moreover the strong supersonic turbulence in ULIRGs relocates much of their molecular gas at much higher average densities (≥104 cm−3) than in isolated spirals (∼ 102–103 cm−3). This renders low-J CO lines incapable of constraining the properties of the bulk of the molecular gas in ULIRGs, with substantial and systematic underestimates of its mass possible when only such lines are used. Finally a comparative study of multi-J HCN lines and CO SLEDs from J=1–0 up to J=13–12 of NGC 6240 and Arp 193 offers a clear example of two merger/starbursts whose similar low-J CO SLEDs, and LIR/LCO,1−0 and LHCN, 1−0/LCO,1-0 ratios (proxies of the so-called SF efficiency and dense gas mass fraction), yield no indications about their strongly diverging CO SLEDs beyond J=4–3, and ultimately the different physical conditions in their molecular ISM. The much larger sensitivity of ALMA and its excellent site in the Atacama desert now allows the observations necessary to assess the dominant energy sources of the molecular gas and its mass in LIRGs without depending on the low-J CO lines.

Once data from a citizen-science program on light pollution is verified, what research projects, on-line analytical tools and tutorials should be developed, and what ways can results and acknowledgements be provided to the public? These and other questions are explored.

Globular clusters (GCs) are excellent tracers for the formation, assembly and evolutionary history of their host galaxies. However, their origin and their role in galaxy evolution are still unclear. There are accumulating evidences that a significant fraction of GCs in massive galaxies (e.g., M 31) are accreted during their assembly history (e.g., Mackey et al. 2010). In this contribution, we report the discovery of a possible stream of accreted GCs in M 31 using data from the literature. Unlike previous substructures of GCs identified as clumps in the phase and metallicity space (Ashman, Keith & Christina 1993), the members of this stream are widely spread but tightly correlated in the position-velocity space (see Fig. 1). The tight correlation suggests that they possibly follow very similar orbits. A number of stellar streams have been discovered in the outer halo of M 31 (e.g., Ibata et al. 2001; McConnachie et al. 2009), one of which may be physically associated with the GC stream. If the association is established, it will not only provide a key evidence for accretion origins of some GCs in M 31, but also place a strong constraint on the mass distribution of M 31.

Supernovae play an integral role in the feedback of processed material back into the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies and are responsible for most of the chemical enrichment of the universe. The rate of supernovae can also reveal the star formation histories. In a sample of 11 nearby galaxies observed with SINFONI, a strong linear correlation between [FeII]1.26 luminosity and Starburst 99-derived supernova rate is found on a pixel-pixel basis. In the very nearby archetypal starburst galaxy NGC 253, the excitation of molecular gas is a subject of debate. Using the correlation between [FeII] and supernova rate, we can determine if supernovae can account for the excitation of the bright observed near-infrared H2 emission.

Observations of deuterated species are essential to probing the properties and thermal history of various astrophysical environments, and the ALMA observing facilities will reveal a multitude of new deuterated molecules. To analyze these new vast data we have constructed a new up-to-date network with the largest collection of deuterium chemistry reactions to date. We assess the reliability of the network and probe the role of physical parameters and initial abundances on the chemical evolution of deuterated species. Finally, we perform a sensitivity study to assess the uncertainties in the estimated abundances and D/H ratios.