Net-zero chemical production can be achieved through electrification, biomass-based processes, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. However, these net-zero pathways require more resources than business-as-usual processes. One possibility to produce net-zero chemicals at a lower resource consumption is the combination of net-zero pathways based on locally available resources. This study determines the optimal combinations of net-zero pathways for producing chemicals with net-zero emissions that minimize the use of renewable energy, land, and water while complying with local waste biomass and CO2 storage availability. Waste biomass is defined as residue biomass that does not compete for land and water with other sectors. The analysis is performed worldwide at the country level and considers the production of ammonia, methanol, and plastics, which, when combined, account for similar to 5% of the global CO2 emissions. Findings show that, when considering net-zero pathways individually, waste biomass is preferably used for producing ammonia and methanol, whereas carbon capture and storage is preferably deployed for plastics production. At the same time, a mixed strategy using carbon capture, utilization, and storage, and waste biomass, allows one to achieve a net-zero chemical industry with a nearly 60% reduction in energy consumption and 90% reduction in land and water consumption, with respect to single-pathway strategies. Finally, we find that adopting a net-zero portfolio that minimizes water allows water consumption to be reduced by more than 90% and land consumption to be reduced by more than 70% at the cost of an energy increase of only 5%, when compared to the minimum-energy portfolio.

A stylized macro-scale energy model of least-cost electricity systems relying only on wind and solar generation was used to assess the value of different storage technologies, individually and combined, for the contiguous U.S. as well as for four geographically diverse U.S. load-balancing regions. For the contiguous U.S. system, at current costs, when only one storage technology was deployed, hydrogen energy storage produced the lowest system costs, due to its energy-capacity costs being the lowest of all storage technologies modeled. Additional hypothetical storage technologies were more cost-competitive than hydrogen (long-duration storage) only at very low energy-capacity costs, but they were more cost-competitive than Li-ion batteries (short-duration storage) at relatively high energy- and power-capacity costs. In all load-balancing regions investigated, the least-cost systems that included long-duration storage had sufficient energy and power capacity to also meet short-duration energy and power storage needs, so that the addition of short-duration storage as a second storage technology did not markedly reduce total system costs. Thus, in electricity systems that rely on wind and solar generation, contingent on social and geographic constraints, long-duration storage may cost-effectively provide the services that would otherwise be provided by shorter-duration storage technologies.

We present ultraviolet/optical/near-infrared observations and modeling of Type II supernovae (SNe II) whose early time (delta(t) < 2 days) spectra show transient, narrow emission lines from shock ionization of confined (r < 10(15) cm) circumstellar material (CSM). The observed electron-scattering broadened line profiles (i.e., IIn-like) of H i, He i/ii, C iv, and N iii/iv/v from the CSM persist on a characteristic timescale (t(IIn)) that marks a transition to a lower-density CSM and the emergence of Doppler-broadened features from the fast-moving SN ejecta. Our sample, the largest to date, consists of 39 SNe with early time IIn-like features in addition to 35 "comparison" SNe with no evidence of early time IIn-like features, all with ultraviolet observations. The total sample includes 50 unpublished objects with a total of 474 previously unpublished spectra and 50 multiband light curves, collected primarily through the Young Supernova Experiment and Global Supernova Project collaborations. For all sample objects, we find a significant correlation between peak ultraviolet brightness and both t(II)n and the rise time, as well as evidence for enhanced peak luminosities in SNe II with IIn-like features. We quantify mass-loss rates and CSM density for the sample through the matching of peak multiband absolute magnitudes, rise times, t(IIn), and optical SN spectra with a grid of radiation hydrodynamics and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative-transfer simulations. For our grid of models, all with the same underlying explosion, there is a trend between the duration of the electron-scattering broadened line profiles and inferred mass-loss rate: t(IIn) approximate to 3.8[M/ (0.01 M-circle dot yr(-1))] days.

Over the last decade, studies of large samples of binary systems identified chemical anomalies, and showed that they might be attributed to planet formation or planet engulfment. However, both scenarios have primarily been tested in pairs without known exoplanets. In this work, we explore these scenarios in the newly detected planet-hosting wide binary TOI-1173 A/B (projected separation ∼ 11,400 AU) using high-resolution MAROON-X and ARCES spectra. We determined photospheric stellar parameters both by fitting stellar models and via the spectroscopic equilibrium approach. Both analyses agree and suggest that they are cool main sequence stars located in the thin disc. A line-by-line differential analysis between the components (B−A) −A) displays an abundance pattern in the condensation temperature plane where the planet-hosting star TOI-1173 A is enhanced in refractory elements such as iron by more than 0.05 dex. This suggests the engulfment of ∼18 M⊕ of rocky material in star A. Our hypothesis is supported by the dynamics of the system (detailed in our companion paper Yana Galarza et al. 2024), which suggest that the Super-Neptune TOI-1173 A b might have been delivered to its current short period (∼7 days) through circulatization and von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai mechanisms, thereby triggering the engulfment of inner rocky exoplanets.

The fifth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V) Local Volume Mapper (LVM) is a wide-field integral field unit (IFU) survey that uses an array of four 160 mm fixed telescopes with siderostats to minimize the number of moving parts. Individual telescope observes the science field or calibration field independently and is synchronized with the science exposure. We developed the LVM Acquisition and Guiding Package (LVMAGP) optimized telescope control software program for LVM observations, which can simultaneously control four focusers, three K-mirrors, one fiber selector, four mounts (siderostats), and seven guide cameras. This software is built on a hierarchical architecture and the SDSS framework and provides three key sequences: autofocus, field acquisition, and autoguide. We designed and fabricated a proto-model siderostat to test the telescope pointing model and LVMAGP software. The mirrors of the proto-model were designed as an isogrid open-back type, which reduced the weight by 46% and enabled reaching thermal equilibrium quickly. Additionally, deflection due to bolting torque, self-gravity, and thermal deformation was simulated, and the maximum scatter of the pointing model induced by the tilt of optomechanics was predicted to be $4'.4$, which can be compensated for by the field acquisition sequence. We performed a real sky test of LVMAGP with the proto-model siderostat and obtained field acquisition and autoguide accuracies of $0''.38$ and $1''.5$, respectively. It met all requirements except for the autoguide specification, which will be resolved by more precise alignment among the hardware components at Las Campanas Observatory.

We present the stellar metallicities and multi-element abundances (C, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Fe) of 15 massive (log M/M⊙=10.2-11.2) quiescent galaxies at z=1-3, derived from ultradeep JWST-SUSPENSE spectra. Compared to quiescent galaxies at z~0, these galaxies exhibit a deficiency of 0.25 dex in [C/H], 0.16 dex in [Fe/H], and 0.07 dex in [Mg/H], implying rapid formation and quenching before significant enrichment from asymptotic giant branch stars and Type Ia supernovae. Additionally, we find that galaxies that form at higher redshift have higher [Mg/Fe] and lower [Fe/H] and [Mg/H], irrespective of their observed redshift. The evolution in [Fe/H] and [C/H] is therefore primarily explained by lower redshift samples naturally including galaxies with longer star-formation timescales. On the other hand, the lower [Mg/H] can be explained by galaxies forming at earlier epochs expelling larger gas reservoirs during their quenching phase. Consequently, the mass-metallicity relation, primarily reflecting [Mg/H], is also lower at z=1-3 compared to the lower redshift relation, though the slopes are similar. Finally, we compare our results to standard stellar population modeling approaches employing solar abundance patterns and non-parametric star-formation histories (using Prospector). Our SSP-equivalent ages agree with the mass-weighted ages from Prospector, while the metallicities disagree significantly. Nonetheless, the metallicities better reflect [Fe/H] than total [Z/H]. We also find that star-formation timescales inferred from elemental abundances are significantly shorter than those from Prospector, and we discuss the resulting implications for the early formation of massive galaxies.