Introducing the Lumina project: large-volume radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the epochs of hydrogen and helium reionization

Kavli Affiliate: Mark Vogelsberger | Summary:Understanding how galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) jointly drive the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) across cosmic time remains a major challenge in cosmology. We present Lumina, a large-volume radiation-hydrodynamic simulation that self-consistently follows the coupled evolution of the intergalactic medium, galaxies, and AGN through HI, HeI, and […]


Continue.. Introducing the Lumina project: large-volume radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the epochs of hydrogen and helium reionization

CIAO: Chandra’s Data Analysis System for X-Ray Astronomy and Beyond

Kavli Affiliate: Moritz Guenther | Summary:The Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations (CIAO) software, developed by the Chandra X-ray Center, has been the data analysis package for the Chandra X-ray Observatory since its launch in 1999. Over nearly three decades, CIAO has grown from a small software suite into a widely used system for X-ray data […]


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The Metallicity Distribution of the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Segue 1

Kavli Affiliate: Anna Frebel | Summary:Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs, $M_* < 10^5 M_odot$) offer unique insights into early chemical evolution in low-mass systems. However, interpreting their metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) has been challenging due to limited spectroscopic samples, especially beyond the red giant branch. We present metallicities from the Ca II K absorption feature, measured […]


Continue.. The Metallicity Distribution of the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Segue 1

An Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth and a Sub-Neptune Orbiting the K dwarf TOI-4311

Kavli Affiliate: Avi Shporer | Summary:We report the discovery and characterisation of the multi-planetary system around TOI-4311, a K dwarf kinematically between the Galactic thick disk and Hercules stream. TOI-4311 hosts an ultra-short-period super-Earth (P$sim$0.99 d, $1.376substack+0.077\-0.080$ R$_oplus$) and a longer period sub-Neptune (P$sim$15 d, $2.47substack+0.12\-0.11$ R$_oplus$) that was first detected in the TESS photometry. […]


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The Quadruply Lensed Supernova SN 2025wny: Implications for LSST

Kavli Affiliate: Paul Schechter | Summary:Lensed supernovae (SNae) are among the most eagerly anticipated transients expected from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Quadruply lensed SNae permit more highly constrained models than "mere" doubles. The quadruply lensed SN 2025wny offers multiple lessons on how one might respond to an alert. The full benefits […]


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The $R$-Process Alliance: The $R$-Process Enhancement of Stars from Chemodynamically Tagged Groups in the Milky Way Halo

Kavli Affiliate: Anna Frebel | Summary:As part of the ongoing work of the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA), detailed abundance measurements of 29 heavy elements in three metal-poor stars, 2MASS J14592981$-$3852558, 2MASS J19445483$-$4039459, and 2MASS J15211026$-$0607566, are presented based on an analysis of high-resolution ($Rsim 80,000$), high signal-to-noise “portrait” spectra from the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) […]


Continue.. The $R$-Process Alliance: The $R$-Process Enhancement of Stars from Chemodynamically Tagged Groups in the Milky Way Halo

Discovery of 30 Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources and Uniform Population Statistics of 80 Repeating Sources from CHIME/FRB

Kavli Affiliate: Kiyoshi Masui | Summary:We present 30 newly discovered repeating fast radio burst (FRB) sources from the second catalog of bursts detected by the FRB backend on the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB). These repeaters have extragalactic dispersion measures (DMs) spanning $99.4-1446.0 textpc cm^-3$ and burst rates between $10^-5.7$ and $10^-0.5$ hr$^-1$ scaled […]


Continue.. Discovery of 30 Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources and Uniform Population Statistics of 80 Repeating Sources from CHIME/FRB

A single power law for the TRAPPIST-1 flare distribution across four orders of magnitude in energy

Kavli Affiliate: Sara Seager | Summary:TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool dwarf that flares frequently. These flares shape the surrounding planets’ high-energy irradiation environments, with consequences for atmospheric chemistry and escape, and they can contaminate transmission spectroscopy of those planets. A quantitative flare-frequency distribution (FFD) spanning the full energy range is therefore essential for both interpreting JWST […]


Continue.. A single power law for the TRAPPIST-1 flare distribution across four orders of magnitude in energy

No model-independent evidence for a peak in binary black hole spin (mis)alignments

Kavli Affiliate: Salvatore Vitale | Summary:The degree of black-hole spin-orbit misalignment ("tilts") in the astrophysical population could be a powerful diagnostic to distinguish between binary formation in isolation, in dynamical environments, or in hierarchical triples. However, robust population-level spin tilt measurements are complicated by model misspecification as well as numerical and Poisson variance, ultimately owing […]


Continue.. No model-independent evidence for a peak in binary black hole spin (mis)alignments

Galactic Amnesia: The Information Washout of the Milky Way Merger History

Kavli Affiliate: Lina Necib | Summary:The merger history of a galaxy leaves imprints on its present-day stellar chemodynamics, yet dynamical processes progressively erase this record. We ask: how far back in time, and from which observables, can a galaxy’s assembly history still be recovered? We provide a quantitative framework to address this question, using Mutual […]


Continue.. Galactic Amnesia: The Information Washout of the Milky Way Merger History