We present optical follow-up of IGR J16194-2810, a hard X-ray source discovered by the INTEGRAL mission. The optical counterpart is a similar to 500 L circle dot red giant at a distance of 2.1 kpc. We measured 17 radial velocities (RVs) of the giant over a period of 271 days. Fitting these RVs with a Keplerian model, we find an orbital period of P orb = 192.73 +/- 0.01 days and a companion mass function f(M 2) = 0.365 +/- 0.003 M circle dot. We detect ellipsoidal variability with the same period in optical light curves from the ASAS-SN survey. Joint fitting of the RVs, light curves, and the broadband spectral energy distribution allows us to robustly constrain the masses of both components. We find a giant mass of M star=0.99-0.03+0.02M circle dot and a companion mass of M2=1.23-0.03+0.05M circle dot , implying that the companion is a neutron star (NS). We recover a 4.06 hr period in the system's TESS light curve, which we tentatively associate with the NS spin period. The giant does not yet fill its Roche lobe, suggesting that current mass transfer is primarily via winds. Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics evolutionary models predict that the giant will overflow its Roche lobe in 5-10 Myr, eventually forming a recycled pulsar + white dwarf binary with a similar to 900 days period. IGR J16194-2810 provides a window on the future evolution of wide NS + main sequence binaries recently discovered via Gaia astrometry. As with those systems, the binary's formation history is uncertain. Before the formation of the NS, it likely survived a common envelope episode with a donor-to-accretor mass ratio greater than or similar to 10 and emerged in a wide orbit. The NS likely formed with a weak kick (v kick less than or similar to 50 km s-1), as stronger kicks would have disrupted the orbit.

Age is the most difficult fundamental stellar parameter to infer for isolated stars. While isochrone-based ages are in general imprecise for both main sequence dwarfs and red giants, precise isochrone-based ages can be obtained for stars on the subgiant branch transitioning from core to shell hydrogen burning. We synthesize Gaia DR3-based distance inferences, multiwavelength photometry from the ultraviolet to the mid infrared, and three-dimensional extinction maps to construct a sample of 289,759 solar-metallicity stars amenable to accurate, precise, and physically self-consistent age inferences. Using subgiants in the solar-metallicity open clusters NGC 2682 (i.e., M 67) and NGC 188, we show that our approach yields accurate and physically self-consistent ages and metallicities with median statistical precisions of 8% and 0.06 dex. The inclusion of systematic uncertainties resulting from non-single or variable stars results in age and metallicity precisions of 9% and 0.12 dex. We supplement this solar-metallicity sample with an additional 112,062 metal-poor subgiants, including over 3,000 stars with [ Fe/H 1 ≲ − 1.50, 7% age precisions, and apparent Gaia G-band magnitudes G < 14. We further demonstrate that our inferred metallicities agree with those produced by multiplexed spectroscopic surveys. As an example of the scientific potential of this catalog, we show that the solar neighborhood star-formation history has three components at ([ Fe/H 1,τ/ Gyr) ≈ (+0.0,4), (+0.2, 7), and a roughly linear sequence in age–metallicity space beginning at ([ Fe/H],τ/ Gyr) ≈ (+0.2,7) and extending to (−0.5,13) . Our analyses indicate that the solar neighborhood includes stars on disk-like orbits even at the oldest ages and lowest metallicities accessible by our samples.

Primitive arc magmas are more oxidized and enriched in sulfur-34 (34S) compared to mid-ocean ridge basalts. These findings have been linked to the addition of slab-derived volatiles, particularly sulfate, to arc magmas. However, the oxidation state of sulfur in slab fluids and the mechanisms of sulfur transfer in the slab remain inconclusive. Juxtaposed serpentinite and eclogitic metagabbro from the Voltri Massif (Italy) provide evidence for sulfur mobilization and associated redox processes during infiltration of fluids. Using bulk rock and in situ delta34S measurements, combined with thermodynamic calculations, we document the transfer of bisulfide-dominated, 34S-enriched fluids in equilibrium with serpentinite into adjacent metagabbro. We argue that the process documented in this study is pervasive along the subduction interface and infer that subsequent melting of these reacted slab-mantle interface rocks could produce melts that display the characteristic oxygen fugacity and sulfur isotope signatures of arc magmas worldwide.

This is the second in a series of papers in which we use JWST MIRI multiband imaging to measure the warm dust emission in a sample of 31 multiply imaged quasars, to be used as a probe of the particle nature of dark matter. We present measurements of the relative magnifications of the strongly lensed warm dust emission in a sample of 9 systems. The warm dust region is compact and sensitive to perturbations by populations of halos down to masses ∼ 106 M⊙ Using these warm dust flux -ratio measurements in combination with 5 previous narrow -line flux -ratio measurements, we constrain the halo mass function. In our model, we allow for complex deflector macromodels with flexible third and fourth -order multipole deviations from ellipticity, and we introduce an improved model of the tidal evolution of subhalos. We constrain a WDM model and find an upper limit on the half -mode mass of 107.6 M⊙ at posterior odds of 10:1. This corresponds to a lower limit on a thermally produced dark matter particle mass of 6.1 keV. This is the strongest gravitational lensing constraint to date, and comparable to those from independent probes such as the Lyα forest and Milky Way satellite galaxies.

Ethylene plays its essential roles in plant development, growth, and defense responses by controlling the transcriptional reprograming, in which EIN2-C-directed regulation of histone acetylation is the first key step for chromatin to perceive ethylene signaling. But how the nuclear acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl CoA) is produced to ensure the ethylene-mediated histone acetylation is unknown. Here we report that ethylene triggers the accumulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) in the nucleus to synthesize nuclear acetyl CoA to regulate ethylene response. PDC is identified as an EIN2-C nuclear partner, and ethylene triggers its nuclear accumulation. Mutations in PDC lead to an ethylene hyposensitivity that results from the reduction of histone acetylation and transcription activation. Enzymatically active nuclear PDC synthesizes nuclear acetyl CoA for EIN2-C-directed histone acetylation and transcription regulation. These findings uncover a mechanism by which PDC-EIN2 converges the mitochondrial enzyme-mediated nuclear acetyl CoA synthesis with epigenetic and transcriptional regulation for plant hormone response.

Organs that pump luminal fluids by the coordinated beat of motile cilia are integral to animal physiology. Such organs include the human airways, brain ventricles and reproductive tracts. Although cilia organization and duct morphology vary drastically in the animal kingdom, ducts are typically classified as carpet or flame designs. The reason behind the appearance of these two different designs and how they relate to fluid pumping remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that two structural parameters-lumen diameter and cilia-to-lumen ratio-organize the observed duct diversity into a continuous spectrum that connects carpets to flames across all animal phyla. Using a unified fluid model, we show that carpets and flames represent trade-offs between flow rate and pressure generation. We propose that the convergence of ciliated organ designs follows functional constraints rather than phylogenetic distance and offer guiding design principles for synthetic ciliary pumps.

The TEMPO (Transiting Exosatellites, Moons, and Planets in Orion) Survey is a proposed 30-day observational campaign using the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. By providing deep, high-resolution, short-cadence infrared photometry of a dynamic star-forming region, TEMPO will investigate the demographics of exosatellites orbiting free-floating planets and brown dwarfs - a largely unexplored discovery space. Here, we present the simulated detection yields of three populations: extrasolar moon analogs orbiting free-floating planets, exosatellites orbiting brown dwarfs, and exoplanets orbiting young stars. Additionally, we outline a comprehensive range of anticipated scientific outcomes accompanying such a survey. These science drivers include: obtaining observational constraints to test prevailing theories of moon, planet, and star formation; directly detecting widely separated exoplanets orbiting young stars; investigating the variability of young stars and brown dwarfs; constraining the low-mass end of the stellar initial mass function; constructing the distribution of dust in the Orion Nebula and mapping evolution in the near-infrared extinction law; mapping emission features that trace the shocked gas in the region; constructing a dynamical map of Orion members using proper motions; and searching for extragalactic sources and transients via deep extragalactic observations reaching a limiting magnitude of mAB = 29.7 mag (F146 filter).

We report the discovery of a close-in (P orb = 3.349 days) warm Neptune with clear transit timing variations (TTVs) orbiting the nearby (d = 47.3 pc) active M4 star, TOI-2015. We characterize the planet's properties using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry, precise near-infrared radial velocities (RVs) with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder Spectrograph, ground-based photometry, and high-contrast imaging. A joint photometry and RV fit yields a radius Rp=3.37-0.20+0.15R circle plus , mass mp=16.4-4.1+4.1M circle plus , and density rho p=2.32-0.37+0.38gcm-3 for TOI-2015 b, suggesting a likely volatile-rich planet. The young, active host star has a rotation period of P rot = 8.7 +/- 0.9 days and associated rotation-based age estimate of 1.1 +/- 0.1 Gyr. Though no other transiting planets are seen in the TESS data, the system shows clear TTVs of super-period Psup approximate to 430days and amplitude similar to 100 minutes. After considering multiple likely period-ratio models, we show an outer planet candidate near a 2:1 resonance can explain the observed TTVs while offering a dynamically stable solution. However, other possible two-planet solutions-including 3:2 and 4:3 resonances-cannot be conclusively excluded without further observations. Assuming a 2:1 resonance in the joint TTV-RV modeling suggests a mass of mb=13.3-4.5+4.7M circle plus for TOI-2015 b and mc=6.8-2.3+3.5M circle plus for the outer candidate. Additional transit and RV observations will be beneficial to explicitly identify the resonance and further characterize the properties of the system.

Organic macromolecular matter is the dominant carrier of volatile elements such as carbon, nitrogen and noble gases in chondrites-the rocky building blocks from which Earth formed. How this macromolecular substance formed in space is unclear. Here we show that its formation could be associated with the presence of dust traps, which are prominent mechanisms for forming planetesimals in planet-forming disks. We demonstrate the existence of heavily irradiated zones in dust traps, where small frozen molecules that coat large quantities of microscopic dust grains could be rapidly converted into macromolecular matter by receiving radiation doses of up to several tens of electronvolts per molecule per year. This allows for the transformation of simple molecules into complex macromolecular matter within several decades. Up to roughly 4% of the total disk ice reservoir can be processed this way and subsequently incorporated into the protoplanetary disk midplane where planetesimals form. This finding shows that planetesimal formation and the production of organic macromolecular matter, which provides the essential elemental building blocks for life, might be linked.

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument onboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover detected so far some of the most intense fluorescence signals in association with sulfates analyzing abraded patches of rocks at Jezero crater, Mars. To assess the plausibility of an organic origin of these signals, it is key to understand if organics can survive exposure to ambient Martian UV after exposure by the Perseverance abrasion tool and prior to analysis by SHERLOC. In this work, we investigated the stability of organo-sulfate assemblages under Martian-like UV irradiation and we observed that the spectroscopic features of phthalic and mellitic acid embedded into hydrated magnesium sulfate do not change for UV exposures corresponding to at least 48 Martian sols and, thus, should still be detectable in fluorescence when the SHERLOC analysis takes place, thanks to the photoprotective properties of magnesium sulfate. In addition, different photoproduct bands diagnostic of the parent carboxylic acid molecules could be observed. The photoprotective behavior of hydrated magnesium sulfate corroborates the hypothesis that sulfates might have played a key role in the preservation of organics on Mars, and that the fluorescence signals detected by SHERLOC in association with sulfates could potentially arise from organic compounds.