MeerKAT observations of white dwarf pulsars

Sissa Medialab Srl (2025) 061

Authors:

Emil Meintjes, PA Woudt, M Geyer, I Heywood, V Prayag, B Stappers, D Ah Buckley, M Caleb, R Fender, I Pelisoli

Measurement of the top-quark pole mass in dileptonic t t ¯ + 1-jet events at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

Journal of High Energy Physics Springer 2025:12 (2025) 23

Authors:

G Aad, E Aakvaag, B Abbott, S Abdelhameed, K Abeling, NJ Abicht, SH Abidi, M Aboelela, A Aboulhorma, H Abramowicz, Y Abulaiti, BS Acharya, A Ackermann, C Adam Bourdarios, L Adamczyk, SV Addepalli, MJ Addison, J Adelman, A Adiguzel, T Adye, AA Affolder, Y Afik, MN Agaras, A Aggarwal

Abstract:

A measurement of the top-quark pole mass mtpole is presented in tt¯ events with an additional jet, tt¯ + 1-jet, produced in pp collisions at s=13 TeV. The data sample, recorded with the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. Events with one electron and one muon of opposite electric charge in the final state are selected to measure the tt¯ + 1-jet differential cross-section as a function of the inverse of the invariant mass of the tt¯ + 1-jet system. Iterative Bayesian Unfolding is used to correct the data to enable comparison with fixed-order calculations at next-to-leading-order accuracy in the strong coupling. The process pp→tt¯j2→3, where top quarks are taken as stable particles, and the process pp→bb¯l+νl−ν¯j2→7, which includes top-quark decays to the dilepton final state and off-shell effects, are considered. The top-quark mass is extracted using a χ2 fit of the unfolded normalized differential cross-section distribution. The results obtained with the 2 → 3 and 2 → 7 calculations are compatible within theoretical uncertainties, providing an important consistency check. The more precise determination is obtained for the 2 → 3 measurement: mtpole=170.7±0.3stat.±1.4syst.±0.3scale±0.2PDF⊕αS GeV, which is in good agreement with other top-quark mass results.

Search for single production of vector-like quarks decaying into W ( ℓν ) b in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Journal of High Energy Physics Springer 2025:12 (2025) 12

Authors:

G Aad, E Aakvaag, B Abbott, S Abdelhameed, K Abeling, NJ Abicht, SH Abidi, M Aboelela, A Aboulhorma, H Abramowicz, Y Abulaiti, BS Acharya, A Ackermann, C Adam Bourdarios, L Adamczyk, SV Addepalli, MJ Addison, J Adelman, A Adiguzel, T Adye, AA Affolder, Y Afik, MN Agaras, A Aggarwal

Abstract:

A search for single production of a vector-like quark Q, which could be either a singlet T, with charge 23, or a Y from a (T, B, Y) triplet, with charge −43, is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to the full integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1 recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis targets Q → Wb decays where the W boson decays leptonically. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background, so upper limits are set on the cross-section times branching ratio, and on the coupling of the Q to the Standard Model sector for these two benchmark models. Effects of interference with the Standard Model background are taken into account. For the singlet T, the 95% confidence level limit on the coupling strength κ ranges between 0.22 and 0.52 for masses from 1150 to 2300 GeV. For the (T, B, Y) triplet, the limits on κ vary from 0.14 to 0.46 for masses from 1150 to 2600 GeV.

A MeerKAT view of the parsec-scale jets in the black-hole X-ray binary GRS 1758–258

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 704 (2025) a239

Authors:

I Mariani, SE Motta, P Atri, JH Matthews, RP Fender, J Martí, PL Luque-Escamilla, I Heywood

Abstract:

Context. Jets from accreting black-hole (BH) X-ray binary (XRB) systems are powerful outflows that release a large fraction of the accretion energy to the surrounding environment, providing a feedback mechanism that may alter the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM). Studying accretion processes alongside their feedback on the environment may enable one to estimate the matter and energy input and output around accreting BHs. Aims. We aim to study the extended jet structures around the BH XRB GRS 1758–258. First observed in VLA data, these parsec-scale jet structures originate from jet-ISM interaction, and are characterised by a peculiar Z-shape morphology. Methods. Using the MeerKAT radio telescope we observed GRS 1758–258 in the L band for a total exposure of 7 hr. Following a calorimetry-based method originally proposed for active galactic nuclei (AGN) and later applied to X-ray binaries, we estimated the properties of the jets and of the surrounding ISM. Results. We detect a jet and a counter-jet terminating in bow-shock structures induced by their interaction with the ISM. We identified both synchrotron and bremsstrahlung emitting regions within the northern lobe, while the southern lobe is dominated by thermal emission. We measured an ISM particle density of between 10 and 40 cm −3 across both the northern and southern jets, slightly lower in the northern region. The estimated ages of the two jet sides range from 6 to 51 kyr, with the northern jet seemingly younger than the southern one. The time-averaged transferred jet energy for both jets falls between 4.4 × 10 33 and 3.3 × 10 36 erg s −1 , with slight differences between the northern and southern jets ascribed to different local environmental conditions. Comparing the new MeerKAT with archival VLA observations, we measured a proper motion of a portion of the northern jet of ∼130 mas/year. Conclusions. Jet-ISM interaction structures on both sides of GRS 1758–258 reveal different local ISM properties. The comparison between the morphology of these structures and those from other XRBs indicates that the lobes in GRS 1758–258 may be younger and may result from a number of jet activity phases. The estimated time-averaged energy transferred to the environment is slightly lower than, but comparable to, that observed in other XRBs, consistent with the younger age of the lobes in GRS 1758–258 relative to those of other systems.

Semiempirical constraints on the HI mass function of star-forming galaxies and ΩHI at z∼ 0.37 from interferometric surveys

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 704 (2025) a152

Authors:

F Sinigaglia, A Bianchetti, G Rodighiero, L Mayer, M Dessauges-Zavadsky, E Elson, M Vaccari, MJ Jarvis

Abstract:

Context. The H I mass function (HIMF) is a crucial tool for understanding the evolution of the H I content in galaxies over cosmic time and, hence, to constraining both the baryon cycle in galaxy evolution and the reionization history of the Universe. Aims. We aim to derive semiempirical constraints at z ∼ 0.37 by combining literature results on the stellar mass function from optical surveys with recent findings on the M HI − M ⋆ scaling relation derived via spectral stacking analysis applied to 21 cm line interferometric data from the MIGHTEE and CHILES surveys, conducted with the MeerKAT and VLA radio telescopes, respectively. Methods. We drew synthetic stellar mass samples directly from the publicly available results underlying the analysis of the COSMOS2020 galaxy photometric sample. We then converted M ⋆ into M HI using analytical fitting functions to the data points from H I stacking. We next fit a Schechter function to the median HIMF from all the samples via Monte Carlo Markov chains. We finally derived the posterior distribution for Ω HI by integrating the models for the HIMF built from the posteriors samples of the Schechter parameters. Results. We find a deviation of the HIMF at z ∼ 0.37 from the results at z ∼ 0 from the ALFALFA survey and at z ∼ 1 from uGMRT data. Our results for Ω HI are in broad agreement with other literature results and follow the overall trend on Ω HI as a function of redshift. The derived value Ω HI = (7.02 +0.59 −0.52 ) × 10 −4 at z ∼ 0.37 from the combined analysis deviates by ∼2.9 σ from the ALFALFA result at z ∼ 0. Conclusions. Our findings regarding the HIMF and Ω HI derived from deep, state-of-the-art interferometric surveys differ from previous literature results at z ∼ 0 and z ∼ 1. We are unable to confirm at this stage whether these differences are due to cosmic evolution consistent with a smooth transition of the H I content of galaxies over the last 8 Gyr or due to selection biases and systematics.