[en] High-resolution N-body simulations of dark matter halos indicate that the Milky Way contains numerous subhalos. When a dark matter subhalo passes in front of a star, the light from that star will be deflected by gravitational lensing, leading to a small change in the star's apparent position. This astrometric microlensing signal depends on the inner density profile of the subhalo and can be greater than a few microarcseconds for an intermediate-mass subhalo (M_vir ∼> 10⁴ M_sun) passing within arcseconds of a star. Current and near-future instruments could detect this signal, and we evaluate the Space Interferometry Mission's (SIM's), Gaia's, and ground-based telescopes' potential as subhalo detectors. We develop a general formalism to calculate a subhalo's astrometric lensing cross section over a wide range of masses and density profiles, and we calculate the lensing event rate by extrapolating the subhalo mass function predicted by simulations down to the subhalo masses potentially detectable with this technique. We find that, although the detectable event rates are predicted to be low on the basis of current simulations, lensing events may be observed if the central regions of dark matter subhalos are more dense than current models predict (∼>1 M_sun within 0.1 pc of the subhalo center). Furthermore, targeted astrometric observations can be used to confirm the presence of a nearby subhalo detected by gamma-ray emission. We show that, for sufficiently steep density profiles, ground-based adaptive optics astrometric techniques could be capable of detecting intermediate-mass subhalos at distances of hundreds of parsecs, while SIM could detect smaller and more distant subhalos.

[en] We measure rotation periods and sinusoidal amplitudes in Evryscope light curves for 122 two-minute K5–M4 TESS targets selected for strong flaring. The Evryscope array of telescopes has observed all bright nearby stars in the south, producing 2-minute cadence light curves since 2016. Long-term, high-cadence observations of rotating flare stars probe the complex relationship between stellar rotation, starspots, and superflares. We detect periods from 0.3487 to 104 days and observe amplitudes from 0.008 to 0.216 g′ mag. We find that the Evryscope amplitudes are larger than those in TESS with the effect correlated to stellar mass (p-value = 0.01). We compute the Rossby number (R _o) and find that our sample selected for flaring has twice as many intermediate rotators (0.04 < R _o < 0.4) as fast (R _o < 0.04) or slow (R _o > 0.44) rotators; this may be astrophysical or a result of period detection sensitivity. We discover 30 fast, 59 intermediate, and 33 slow rotators. We measure a median starspot coverage of 13% of the stellar hemisphere and constrain the minimum magnetic field strength consistent with our flare energies and spot coverage to be 500 G, with later-type stars exhibiting lower values than earlier-type stars. We observe a possible change in superflare rates at intermediate periods. However, we do not conclusively confirm the increased activity of intermediate rotators seen in previous studies. We split all rotators at R _o ∼ 0.2 into bins of P _Rot < 10 days and P _Rot > 10 days to confirm that short-period rotators exhibit higher superflare rates, larger flare energies, and higher starspot coverage than do long-period rotators, at p-values of 3.2 × 10⁻⁵, 1.0 × 10⁻⁵, and 0.01, respectively.

[en] Superflares may provide the dominant source of biologically relevant UV radiation to rocky habitable-zone M-dwarf planets (M-Earths), altering planetary atmospheres and conditions for surface life. The combined line and continuum flare emission has usually been approximated by a 9000 K blackbody. If superflares are hotter, then the UV emission may be 10 times higher than predicted from the optical. However, it is unknown for how long M-dwarf superflares reach temperatures above 9000 K. Only a handful of M-dwarf superflares have been recorded with multiwavelength high-cadence observations. We double the total number of events in the literature using simultaneous Evryscope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite observations to provide the first systematic exploration of the temperature evolution of M-dwarf superflares. We also increase the number of superflaring M dwarfs with published time-resolved blackbody evolution by ∼10×. We measure temperatures at 2 minutes cadence for 42 superflares from 27 K5–M5 dwarfs. We find superflare peak temperatures (defined as the mean of temperatures corresponding to flare FWHM) increase with flare energy and impulse. We find the amount of time flares emit at temperatures above 14,000 K depends on energy. We discover that 43% of the flares emit above 14,000 K, 23% emit above 20,000 K and 5% emit above 30,000 K. The largest and hottest flare briefly reached 42,000 K. Some do not reach 14,000 K. During superflares, we estimate M-Earths orbiting <200 Myr stars typically receive a top-of-atmosphere UV-C flux of ∼120 W m⁻² and up to 10³ W m⁻², 100–1000 times the time-averaged X-ray and UV flux from Proxima Cen.

[en] Reflections from objects in Earth orbit can produce subsecond, star-like optical flashes similar to astrophysical transients. Reflections have historically caused false alarms for transient surveys, but the population has not been systematically studied. We report event rates for these orbital flashes using the Evryscope Fast Transient Engine, a low-latency transient detection pipeline for the Evryscopes. We select single-epoch detections likely caused by Earth satellites and model the event rate as a function of both magnitude and sky position. We measure a rate of ${1800}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->280}^{+600}$ sky⁻¹ hr⁻¹, peaking at m _g = 13.0, for flashes morphologically degenerate with real astrophysical signals in surveys like the Evryscopes. Of these, ${340}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->85}^{+150}$ sky⁻¹ hr⁻¹ are bright enough to be visible to the naked eye in typical suburban skies with a visual limiting magnitude of V ≈ 4. These measurements place the event rate of orbital flashes orders of magnitude higher than the combined rate of public alerts from all active all-sky fast-timescale transient searches, including neutrino, gravitational-wave, gamma-ray, and radio observatories. Short-timescale orbital flashes form a dominating foreground for untriggered searches for fast transients in low-resolution, wide-angle surveys. However, events like fast radio bursts with arcminute-scale localization have a low probability (∼10⁻⁵) of coincidence with an orbital flash, allowing optical surveys to place constraints on their potential optical counterparts in single images. Upcoming satellite internet constellations, like SpaceX Starlink, are unlikely to contribute significantly to the population of orbital flashes in normal operations.

[en] The ability of metal-reducing bacteria to produce nanoparticles, and their precursors, can be harnessed for the biological manufacture of fluorescent, semiconducting nanomaterials. The anaerobic bacterium Veillonella atypica can reduce selenium oxyanions to form nanospheres of elemental selenium. These selenium nanospheres are then further reduced by the bacterium to form reactive selenide which could be precipitated with a suitable metal cation to produce nanoscale chalcogenide precipitates, such as zinc selenide, with optical and semiconducting properties. The whole cells used hydrogen as the electron donor for selenite reduction and an enhancement of the reduction rate was observed with the addition of a redox mediator (anthraquinone disulfonic acid). A novel synchrotron-based in situ time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy technique was used, in conjunction with ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, to study the mechanisms and kinetics of the microbial reduction of selenite to selenide. The products of this biotransformation were also assessed using electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and fluorescence spectroscopy. This process offers the potential to prepare chalcogenide-based nanocrystals, for application in optoelectronic devices and biological labelling, from more environmentally benign precursors than those used in conventional organometallic synthesis

[en] Cool subdwarfs are the oldest members of the low-mass stellar population. Mostly present in the galactic halo, subdwarfs are characterized by their low-metallicity. Measuring their binary fraction and comparing it to solar-metallicity stars could give key insights into the star formation process early in the Milky Way’s history. However, because of their low luminosity and relative rarity in the solar neighborhood, binarity surveys of cool subdwarfs have suffered from small sample sizes and incompleteness. Previous surveys have suggested that the binary fraction of red subdwarfs is much lower than for their main-sequence cousins. Using the highly efficient Robo-AO system, we present the largest high-resolution survey of subdwarfs, sensitive to angular separations ($\mathrm{\rho <!--\; ??\; -->}⩾<!--\; ???\; -->$ 0.″ 15) and contrast ratios ($\mathrm{\Delta <!--\; ??\; -->}{m}_i⩽<!--\; ???\; -->$ 6) invisible in past surveys. Of 344 target cool subdwarfs, 43 are in multiple systems, 19 of which are newly discovered, for a binary fraction of 12.5 ± 1.9%. We also discovered seven triple star systems for a triplet fraction of 2.0 ± 0.8%. Comparisons to similar surveys of solar-metallicity dwarf stars gives a ∼3σ disparity in luminosity between companion stars, with subdwarfs displaying a shortage of low-contrast companions. We also observe a lack of close subdwarf companions in comparison to similar-mass dwarf multiple systems.

[en] Infrared avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays represent a panacea for many branches of astronomy by enabling extremely low-noise, high-speed, and even photon-counting measurements at near-infrared wavelengths. We recently demonstrated the use of an early engineering-grade infrared APD array that achieves a correlated double sampling read noise of 0.73 e"− in the lab, and a total noise of 2.52 e"− on sky, and supports simultaneous high-speed imaging and tip-tilt wavefront sensing with the Robo-AO visible-light laser adaptive optics (AO) system at the Palomar Observatory 1.5 m telescope. Here we report on the improved image quality simultaneously achieved at visible and infrared wavelengths by using the array as part of an image stabilization control loop with AO-sharpened guide stars. We also discuss a newly enabled survey of nearby late M-dwarf multiplicity, as well as future uses of this technology in other AO and high-contrast imaging applications

[en] We have conducted a survey of candidate hot subdwarf (HSD) stars in the southern sky searching for fast transits, eclipses, and sinusoidal-like variability in the Evryscope light curves. The survey aims to detect transit signals from Neptune-size planets to gas giants, and eclipses from M-dwarfs and brown dwarfs. The other variability signals are primarily expected to be from compact binaries and reflection effect binaries. Due to the small size of HSDs(R ≈ 0.2 R _⊙), transit and eclipse signals are expected to last only ≈20 minutes, but with large signal depths (up to completely eclipsing if the orientation is edge on). With its 2 minute cadence and continuous observation, the Evryscope is well placed to recover these fast transits and eclipses. The very large field of view (8150 deg²) is critical to obtain enough HSD targets, despite their rarity. We identified ≈11,000 potential HSDs from the 9.3 M Evryscope light curves for sources brighter than m _g = 15. With our machine-learning spectral classifier, we flagged high confidence targets and estimate the total HSDs in the survey to be ≈1400. The light-curve search detected three planet transit candidates, shown to have stellar companions from follow-up analysis. We discovered several new compact binaries (including two with unseen degenerate companions), two eclipsing binaries with M-dwarf companions, as well as new reflection effect binaries and others with sinusoidal-like variability. Four of the discoveries are being published in separate follow-up papers, and we discuss the follow-up potential of the other discoveries.

[en] We determine probabilities of physical association for stars in blended Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), and find that $14.5{\mathrm{\%<!--\; \%\; -->}}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->3.4\mathrm{\%<!--\; \%\; -->}}^{+3.8\mathrm{\%<!--\; \%\; -->}}$ of companions within ∼4″ are consistent with being physically unassociated with their primary. This produces a better understanding of potential false positives in the Kepler catalog and will guide models of planet formation in binary systems. Physical association is determined through two methods of calculating multi-band photometric parallax using visible and near-infrared adaptive optics observations of 84 KOI systems with 104 contaminating companions within ∼4″. We find no evidence that KOI companions with separations of less than 1″ are more likely to be physically associated than KOI companions generally. We also reinterpret transit depths for 94 planet candidates, and calculate that 2.6% ± 0.4% of transits have $R><!--\; >\; -->15R_{\oplus <!--\; ???\; -->}$, which is consistent with prior modeling work.

[en] The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is finding transiting planet candidates around bright, nearby stars across the entire sky. The large field of view, however, results in low spatial resolution; therefore, multiple stars contribute to almost every TESS light curve. High angular resolution imaging can detect the previously unknown companions to planetary candidate hosts that dilute the transit depths, lead to host star ambiguity, and, in some cases, are the source of false-positive transit signals. We use speckle imaging on the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope to search for companions to 542 TESS planet candidate hosts in the southern sky. We provide correction factors for the 117 systems with resolved companions due to photometric contamination. The contamination in TESS due to close binaries is similar to that found in surveys of Kepler planet candidates. For the solar-type population, we find a deep deficit of close binary systems with projected stellar separations less than 100 au among planet candidate hosts (44 observed binaries compared to 124 expected based on field binary statistics). The close binary suppression among TESS planet candidate hosts is similar to that seen for the more distant Kepler population. We also find a large surplus of TESS planet candidates in wide binary systems detected in both SOAR and Gaia DR2 (119 observed binaries compared to 77 expected). These wide binaries almost exclusively host giant planets, however, suggesting that orbital migration caused by perturbations from the stellar companion may lead to planet–planet scattering and suppress the population of small planets in wide binaries. Both trends are also apparent in the M dwarf planet candidate hosts.