Tycho is one of nearly a dozen Galactic supernova remnants which are suggested to emit hadronic γ-ray emission. Among them, however, it is the only one in which the hadronic emission is proposed to arise from the interaction with low-density ambient medium. Based on the multi-band observations, we suggest that Tycho is encountering dense cloud at the northeastern boundary. The γ-ray emissions can be explained by hadronic process with self-consistent parameters, such as a modest energy conversion efficiency. In this SNR-cloud association scenario, the distance can be estimated as ~2.5 kpc.

Many O and B stars show unexplained cyclical variability in their winds, i.e. modulation of absorption features on the rotational timescale, but not strictly periodic over longer timescales. For these stars no dipolar magnetic fields have been detected, with upper limits below 300 G. Similar cyclical variability is also found in many optical lines, which are formed at the base of the wind. We propose that these cyclical variations are caused by the presence of multiple, transient, short-lived, corotating magnetic loops, which we call “stellar prominences”. We present a simplified model representing these prominences to explain the cyclical optical wind-line variability in the O supergiant λ Cephei. Other supporting evidence for such prominences comes from the recent discovery of photometric variability in a comparable O star, which was explained by the presence of multiple transient bright spots, presumably of magnetic origin as well.

Linkages between astronomy and physics have always been intimately close and mutually stimulating. Most often it was physics that served astronomy with its explanatory power. Today, however, we are increasingly witnessing the reverse: astrophysical considerations are being used to constrain new physics and moreover they are more efficient than laboratory experiments. This contribution reviews the ways helio- and white dwarf asteroseismology – branches in which Wojtek Dziembowski played a prominent role – are used for this purpose.

Using star counts method, we estimated the Galactic structure parameters in high latitude field (50° ≤ l ≤ 55°, −46° ≤ b ≤ −44°), 10 deg2 field with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and South Galactic Cap of U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), to explore their possible variations with absolute magnitude. Here we just considered three components: double exponential thin disk and thick disk and a de Vaucouleurs halo. And these parameters were obtained by minimising χ2.

The dust grains flowing out of the stars are most likely non-spherical and inhomogeneous; viz. porous, fluffy and composites of many very small particles glued together. We calculate the scattering, absorption and extinction efficiencies of such composite grains. The composite grains consist of host silicate spheroid and inclusions of PAHs. We study the extinction as a function of the volume fraction of the inclusions. In particular, we study the variation in the absorption peak, at the wavelength ‘4430Å’ with the volume fraction of the PAH inclusions. We present the composite grain models and discuss the results.

We perform an XMM-Newton study of the mixed-morphology supernova remnant (MMSNR) W28. The X-ray spectrum arising from the northeastern shell consists of a thermal component plus a non-thermal power-law component with a hard photon index (~1.5). Non-thermal bremsstrahlung is the most favourible origin of the hard X-ray emission. The gas in the SNR interior is centrally peaked and best described by a two-temperature thermal model. We found a non-uniform absorption column density and temperature profile for the central gas, indicating that the remnant is evolving in a non-uniform environment with denser material in the east. We argue that the cloudlet evaporation is an indispensable process to explain both the spectral properties and the clumpiness in the X-ray emission.

It has been proposed that the variability seen in absorption lines of the O6Ief star λ Cep is periodical and due to non-radial pulsations (NRP). We have obtained new spectra during six campaigns lasting between five and nine nights. In some datasets we find recurrent spectral variations which move redward in the absorption line profile, consistent with perturbations on the stellar surface of a rotating star. However the periods found are not stable between datasets, at odds with the NRP hypothesis. Moreover, even when no redward trend is found in a full dataset of an observing campaign, it can be present in a subset, suggesting that the phenomenon is short-lived, of the order of a few days, and possibly linked to transient magnetic loops.

The Kepler spacecraft observed over 2000 faint stars that were part of our Guest Observer proposals. The stars were selected from the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC) to be in or near the γ Doradus or δ Scuti instability strips (8300 K > Teff > 6200 K and 3.6 < log g < 4.7). The Kepler magnitude was <16 and the contamination factor was < 10−2. The goal was to extend the search for “hybrid” δ Sct-γ Dor pulsators to fainter magnitudes. By inspecting the light curves and Fourier transforms, we find 42 δ Sct candidate stars, 299 γ Dor candidates, and 36 “hybrid” candidate stars showing both types of variations.

We use spectra from the SDSS to study the signatures of nuclear activity over cosmic time, dividing the samples in redshift and mass bins, and using various diagnostic diagrams. A redshift evolution clearly emerges from the analysis of our diagrams.

A number of prominent spectral lines in the spectra of magnetic A and B main sequence stars are produced by closely spaced doublets or triplets. Depending on the strength and orientation of magnetic field, the PPB magnetic splitting can result in the Stokes I profiles of a spectral line that differ significantly from those predicted by the theory of Zeeman effect. Such lines should be treated using the theory of the partial Paschen-Back (PPB) effect. To estimate the error introduced by the use of the Zeeman approximation, numerical simulations have been performed for Si ii and Si iii lines assuming an oblique rotator model. The analysis indicates that for high precision studies of some spectral lines the PPB approach should be used if the field strength at the magnetic poles is Bp > 6-10 kG and V sin i < 15 km s−1. In the case of the Si ii line 5041 Å, the difference between the simulated PPB and Zeeman profiles is caused by a significant contribution from a so called “ghost” line. The Stokes I and V profiles of this particular line simulated in the PPB regime provide a significantly better fit to the observed profiles in the spectrum of the magnetic Ap star HD 318107 than the profiles calculated assuming the Zeeman effect.

We present a new way of describing the flares occurring from Sgr A* within a single zone with a self-consistent calculation of the particle distribution. The results allow us to give an interpretation to the flaring events generated very close to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) without assuming a specific particle distribution. We conclude that the flare data are more likely generated by a weakly magnetized plasma in which the particles flow in and out as expected from an accretion flow. Such a plasma, with prescription for non-thermal acceleration, injection, escape, and cooling losses, gives a spectrum with a break between the infra-red and the X-ray, allowing a better simultaneous match in the different wavelengths. The parameters favor the non-thermal synchrotron spectrum, and a decrease/increase of the magnetic field and plasma density are not favored for producing the flare event, but particle acceleration must be happening by other means. We show that under certain conditions, the real particle distribution can differ significantly from the standard distributions used in such studies.

Very long baseline interferometry observations at millimeter wavelengths have detected source structure in Sgr A* on event horizon scales. Near-infrared interferometry will achieve similar resolution in the next few years. These experiments provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore strong gravity around black holes, but interpreting the data requires physical modeling. I discuss the calculation of images, spectra, and light curves from relativistic MHD simulations of black hole accretion. The models provide an excellent description of current observations, and predict that we may be on the verge of detecting a black hole shadow, which would constitute the first direct evidence for the existence of black holes.

In this paper we present a few results from the first three years of an ongoing survey of globally-ordered magnetic fields in relatively faint (down to V ≈ 9) upper main sequence peculiar stars that we are conducting on the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) Plaskett telescope. The DMFS uses the inexpensive DAO polarimeter module, dimaPol, mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the 1.8 m telescope to detect new magnetic stars and determine rotation periods and longitudinal magnetic field curves using medium-resolution (R ≈ 10,000) circular spectropolarimetry of both the Hβ line and metal lines in an approximately 280 Å wide wavelength region centered on Hβ. By concentrating on the mid-B to A-type peculiar stars, the DMFS provides an extension to the ‘Magnetism in Massive Stars’ (MIMES) Large Program which concentrated on similar field detections in more massive stars.

15 Canis Majoris is a quite massive (M ~ 14 M⊙) main sequence pulsator of the β Cephei type. Recent photometric (Handler 2014) and spectroscopic (Saesen & Briquet, priv. comm.) observations confirm four pulsational frequencies and indicate possible additional modes. We calculated models fitting two frequencies identified as radial and dipole modes. Our analysis indicates rather effective overshooting from the convective core as well as a strong dependence of the minimal required overshooting parameter (αov,min) on the metallicity, Z (αov,min ~ -2.5 Z).

When incorporating the non-adiabatic f-parameter (Daszynśka-Daszkiewicz & Walczak 2009), defined as the ratio of the bolometric flux changes to the radial displacement, significant differences between the opacity tables were obtained. The comparison of the models derived with different codes is also interesting. We used two evolutionary codes: Warsaw-New Jersey (Pamyatnykh et al.1998) and MESA (Paxton et al.2011) and some systematic differences were found.

During the last few years, overionized (recombining) plasmas were unexpectedly discovered in a few supernova remnants, but the origin is still unclear. In this contribution, we present a preliminary spectroscopic analysis of the X-ray emission from the north central region of IC443, one of the “recombining” remnants. An overionized NEI plasma model can reproduce well the Ly-alpha lines and the recombination edges in the spectrum. The ionization temperatures for the metals Mg, Si and S are much higher than the electron temperatures. which is a strong indication of overionization of these elements. The different spectral features of the recombining plasma are characterized on scales of a few arcmin, such as the increasing trend of the pre-cooling temperature and the ionization time from south to north, which may imply a pre-heating direction.

We use observations of OGLE-III ab-type RRLyrae stars towards the Galactic centre (Soszyński et al. 2011, AcA 6,1) to study the metallicity and 3D spatial distribution of the old and metal-poor component of the Galactic bulge. Metallicities and distances to the RRLyrae stars are derived photometrically from Fourier-component analyses of their light curves, allowing the determination of distances accurate to ~7% from 0 to 40 kpc. The distance distribution of the RRLyrae stars peaks at 8.8 kpc, with the data indicating the presence of a bar-like structure inclined at ~30° to the line of sight. The dataset also exhibits a secondary concentration of stars beyond the Galactic centre at ~27 kpc. This is consistent with the distance to the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy, and can be attributed to the serendipitous alignment of the Sgr stream with the bulge. This dataset allows the Sgr stream to be traced in this part of the sky for the first time. The underlying metallicity distributions are determined to have mean ± intrinsic width of [Fe/H]bulge = −1.24±0.23 dex and [Fe/H]Sgr = −1.53±0.14 dex.

Cepheids are one of the most famous standard candles used to calibrate the Galactic distance scale. However, it is fundamental to develop and test independent tools to measure their distances, in order to reach a better calibration of their period-luminosity (P-L) relationship. We present here the first results obtained with the Integrated Parallax of Pulsation (IPoP) method, an extension of the classical Baade-Wesselink method that derives the distance by making a global modelisation of all the available data. With this method we aim to reach a 2% accuracy on distance measurements.

Cepheid masses are also an essential key for our comprehension of those objects. We briefly present an original approach to derive observational constraint on Cepheid masses. Unfortunately, it does not lead to promising results.

The Baldwin, Phillips, and Terlevich emission-line ratio diagnostic ([OIII]/Hβ versus [NII]/Hα, hereafter BPT diagram) efficiently separates galaxies whose signal is dominated by star formation (BPT-SF) from those dominated by AGN activity (BPT-AGN). Yet the BPT diagram is limited to z<0.5, the redshift at which [NII]λ6584 leaves the optical spectral window. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we construct a new diagnostic, or TBT diagram, that is based on rest-frame g−z color, [NeIII]λ3869, and [OII]λλ3726+3729 and can be used for galaxies out to z<1.4. The TBT diagram identifies 98.7% of the SDSS BPT-AGN as TBT-AGN and 97% of the SDSS BPT-SF as TBT-SF. Furthermore, it identifies 97% of the OPTX Chandra X-ray selected AGNs as TBT-AGN. This is in contrast to the BPT diagram, which misidentifies 20% of X-ray selected AGNs as BPT-SF.

The identification of the carrier(s) of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) is one of the oldest mysteries in stellar spectroscopy. With the advent of 8-10m-class telescopes substantial progress has been made in measuring the properties of DIBs in the optical and near-infrared wavelength domain, not only in the Galaxy, but also in different environments encountered in Local Group galaxies and beyond. Still, the DIB carriers have remained unidentified. The coming decade will witness the development of extremely large telescopes (GMT, TMT and E-ELT) and their instrumentation. In this overview I will highlight the current instrumentation plan of these future observatories, emphasizing their potential role in solving the enigma of the DIBs.