## Recent Postings from Solar and Stellar

### Discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods for radiative transfer in spherical symmetry

The discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DG-FEM) is successfully applied to treat a broad variety of transport problems numerically. In this work, we use the full capacity of the DG-FEM to solve the radiative transfer equation in spherical symmetry. We present a discontinuous Galerkin method to directly solve the spherically-symmetric radiative transfer equation as a two-dimensional problem. The transport equation in spherical atmospheres is more complicated than in the plane-parallel case due to the appearance of an additional derivative with respect to the polar angle. The DG-FEM formalism allows for the exact integration of arbitrarily complex scattering phase functions, independent of the angular mesh resolution. We show that the discontinuous Galerkin method is able to describe accurately the radiative transfer in extended atmospheres and to capture discontinuities or complex scattering behaviour which might be present in the solution of certain radiative transfer tasks and can, therefore, cause severe numerical problems for other radiative transfer solution methods.

### The fate of alpha dynamos at large $Rm$ [Cross-Listing]

At the heart of today's solar magnetic field evolution models lies the alpha dynamo description. In this work, we investigate the fate of alpha-dynamos as the magnetic Reynolds number $Rm$ is increased. Using Floquet theory, we are able to precisely quantify mean field effects like the alpha and beta effect (i) by rigorously distinguishing dynamo modes that involve large scale components from the ones that only involve small scales, and by (ii) providing a way to investigate arbitrary large scale separations with minimal computational cost. We apply this framework to helical and non-helical flows as well as to random flows with short correlation time. Our results determine that the alpha-description is valid for $Rm$ smaller than a critical value $Rm_c$ at which small scale dynamo instability starts. When $Rm$ is above $Rm_c$ the dynamo ceases to follow the mean field description and the growth rate of the large scale modes becomes independent of the scale separation while the energy in the large scale modes is inversely proportional to the square of the scale separation. The results in this second regime do not depend on the presence of helicity. Thus alpha-type modeling for solar and stellar models needs to be reevaluated and new directions for mean field modeling are proposed.

### A GMRT survey of regions towards the Taurus Molecular Cloud at 323 and 608 MHz

We present observations of three active sites of star formation in the Taurus Molecular Cloud complex taken at 323 and 608 MHz (90 and 50 cm, respectively) with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Three pointings were observed as part of a pathfinder project, targeted at the young stellar objects (YSOs) L1551 IRS 5, T Tau and DG Tau (the results for these target sources were presented in a previous paper). In this paper, we search for other YSOs and present a survey comprising of all three fields; a by-product of the large instantaneous field of view of the GMRT. The resolution of the survey is of order 10 arcsec and the best rms noise at the centre of each pointing is of order $100\,\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at 323 MHz and $50\,\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at 608 MHz. We present a catalogue of 1815 and 687 field sources detected above $5\,\sigma_{\rm rms}$ at 323 and 608 MHz, respectively. A total of 440 sources were detected at both frequencies, corresponding to a total unique source count of 2062 sources. We compare the results with previous surveys and showcase a sample of extended extragalactic objects. Although no further YSOs were detected in addition to the target YSOs based on our source finding criteria, these data can be useful for targeted manual searches, studies of radio galaxies or to assist in the calibration of future observations with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) towards these regions.

### Regaining the FORS: making optical ground-based transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets with VLT+FORS2 possible again

Transmission spectroscopy facilitates the detection of molecules and/or clouds in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Such studies rely heavily on space-based or large ground-based observatories, as one needs to perform time- resolved, high signal-to-noise spectroscopy. The FORS2 instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope is the obvious choice for performing such studies, and was indeed pioneering the field in 2010. After that, however, it was shown to suffer from systematic errors caused by the Longitudinal Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (LADC). This was successfully addressed, leading to a renewed interest for this instrument as shown by the number of proposals submitted to perform transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets. We present here the context, the problem and how we solved it, as well as the recent results obtained. We finish by providing tips for an optimum strategy to do transmission spectroscopy with FORS2, in the hope that FORS2 may become the instrument of choice for ground-based transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets.

### An interferometric view of binary stars

The study of binary stars is critical to apprehend many of the most interesting classes of stars. Moreover, quite often, the study of stars in binary systems is our only mean to constrain stellar properties, such as masses and radii. Unfortunately, a great fraction of the most interesting binaries are so compact that they can only be apprehended by high-resolution techniques, mostly by interferometry. I present some results highlighting the use of interferometry in the study of binary stars, from finding companions and deriving orbits, determining the mass and radius of stars, to studying mass transfer in symbiotic stars, and tackling luminous blue variables. In particular, I show how interferometric studies using the PIONIER instrument have allowed us to confirm a dichotomy within symbiotic stars, obtain masses of stars with a precision better than 1%, and help us find a new Eta Carinae-like system. I will also illustrate the benefits for the study of binary stars one would get from upgrading the VLT Interferometer so as to be able to observe in the visible range.

### Active region fine structure observed at 0.08 arcsec resolution

The various mechanisms of magneto-convective energy transport determines the structure of sunspots and active regions. We characterise the appearance of light bridges and other fine structure details and elaborate on their magneto-convective nature. We present speckle-reconstructed images taken with the broad band imager at the 1.5 m GREGOR telescope in the 486nm and 589nm bands. We estimate the spatial resolution from the noise characteristics of the image bursts and obtain 0.08'' at 589nm. We describe structure details in individual best images as well as the temporal evolution of selected features. We find branched dark lanes extending along thin (~1'') light bridges in sunspots at various heliocentric angles. In thick (~2'') light bridges the branches are disconnected from the central lane and have a Y' shape with a bright grain toward the umbra. The images reveal that light bridges exist on varying intensity levels and that their small-scale features evolve on time scales of minutes. Faint light bridges show dark lanes outlined by the surrounding bright features. Dark lanes are very common and also found in the boundary of pores. They have a characteristic width of 0.1'' or less. Intergranular dark lanes of that width are seen in active region granulation. While central dark lanes in thin light bridges are elevated and associated with an density increase above upflows, the dark lane branches correspond to locations of downflows and are depressed relative to the adjacent bright plasma. Thick light bridges with central dark lanes show no projection effect. They have a flat elevated plateau that falls off steeply at the umbral boundary. There, Y' shaped filaments form like in the inner penumbra. This indicates the presence of inclined magnetic fields, i.e., that the umbral magnetic field wraps around the convective light bridge.

### Near infrared spectroscopy of M dwarfs. IV. A preliminary survey on the carbon isotopic ratios in M dwarfs

Based on the medium resolution near infrared spectra of 13CO (3,1) band, carbon isotopic ratios are estimated in 48 M dwarfs, for which we had determined the carbon and oxygen abundances from CO and H2O lines, respectively. We find clear evidence for the presence of a 13CO feature for the first time in the spectra of M dwarfs. The spectral resolution of our observed data, however, is not high enough to analyze the 13CO feature directly. Instead, we compare observed spectrum with synthetic spectra assuming 12C/13C = 10, 25, 50, 100, and 200 for each of 48 M dwarfs and estimate the best possible 12C/13C ratio by the chi-square analysis. The resulting 12C/13C ratios in M dwarfs distribute from 39 to a lower limit of 200. The mean value of 31 M dwarfs for which 12C/13C ratios are determined is 12C/13C = 87 +- 21 (p.e.), and that of 48 M dwarfs including those with the lower limit of 200 is 12C/13C > 127 +- 41 (p.e.). These results are somewhat larger than the 12C/13C ratio of the present interstellar matter (ISM) determined from the molecular lines observed in the millimeter and optical wavelength regions. Since the amount of 13C in the ISM has increased with time due to mass-loss from evolved stars, the 12C/13C ratios in M dwarfs, reflecting those of the past ISM, should be larger than those of the present ISM. In M dwarfs, log 13C/12C plotted against log Ac shows a large scatter without clear dependence on the metallicity. This result shows a marked contrast to log 16O/12C (= log Ao/Ac) plotted against log Ac, which shows a rather tight correlation with the larger value at the lower metallicity. Such a contrast can be a natural consequence that 16O and 12C are the primary products in the stellar nuclear synthesis while 13C is the secondary product, at least partly.

### First Simultaneous Views of the Axial and Lateral Perspectives of a Coronal Mass Ejection

The different appearances exhibited by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are believed to be in part the result of different orientations of their main axis of symmetry, consistent with a flux-rope configuration. There are observational reports of CMEs seen along their main axis (axial perspective) and perpendicular to it (lateral perspective), but no simultaneous observations of both perspectives from the same CME have been reported to date. The stereoscopic views of the telescopes onboard the $Solar$-$Terrestrial$ $Relations$ $Observatory$ (STEREO) twin spacecraft, in combination with the views from the $Solar$ $and$ $Heliospheric$ $Observatory$ (SOHO) and the $Solar$ $Dynamics$ $Observatory$ (SDO), allow us to study the axial and lateral perspectives of a CME simultaneously for the first time. In addition, this study shows that the lateral angular extent ($L$) increases linearly with time, while the angular extent of the axial perspective ($D$) presents this behavior only from the low corona to $\approx\,$5 $R_{\odot}$, where it slows down. The ratio $L/D \approx\,$1.6 obtained here as the average over several points in time is consistent with measurements of $L$ and $D$ previously performed on events exhibiting only one of the perspectives from the single vantage point provided by SOHO.

### Spectrum of shear modes in the neutron-star crust: Estimating the nuclear-physics uncertainties

We construct a model of the inner crust of neutron stars using interactions from chiral effective field theory (EFT) in order to calculate its equation of state (EOS), shear properties, and the spectrum of crustal shear modes. We systematically study uncertainties associated with the nuclear physics input, the crust composition, and neutron entrainment, and estimate their impact on crustal shear properties and the shear-mode spectrum. We find that the uncertainties originate mainly in two sources: The neutron-matter EOS and neutron entrainment. We compare the spectrum of crustal shear modes to observed frequencies of quasi-periodic oscillations in the afterglow of giant gamma-ray bursts and find that all of these frequencies could be described within uncertainties, which are, however, at present too sizeable to infer neutron-star properties from observations.

### Spectrum of shear modes in the neutron-star crust: Estimating the nuclear-physics uncertainties [Cross-Listing]

We construct a model of the inner crust of neutron stars using interactions from chiral effective field theory (EFT) in order to calculate its equation of state (EOS), shear properties, and the spectrum of crustal shear modes. We systematically study uncertainties associated with the nuclear physics input, the crust composition, and neutron entrainment, and estimate their impact on crustal shear properties and the shear-mode spectrum. We find that the uncertainties originate mainly in two sources: The neutron-matter EOS and neutron entrainment. We compare the spectrum of crustal shear modes to observed frequencies of quasi-periodic oscillations in the afterglow of giant gamma-ray bursts and find that all of these frequencies could be described within uncertainties, which are, however, at present too sizeable to infer neutron-star properties from observations.

### The masses of neutron stars

We present in this article an overview of the problem of neutron star masses. After a brief appraisal of the methods employed to determine the masses of neutron stars in binary systems, the existing sample of measured masses is presented, with a highlight on some very well-determined cases. We discuss the analysis made to uncover the underlying distribution and a few robust results that stand out from them. The issues related to some particular groups of neutron stars originated from different channels of stellar evolution are shown. Our conclusions are that last century's paradigm that there a single, $1.4 M_{\odot}$ scale is too simple. A bimodal or even more complex distribution is actually present. It is confirmed that some neutron stars have masses of $\sim 2 M_{\odot}$, and, while there is still no firm conclusion on the maximum and minimum values produced in nature, the field has entered a mature stage in which all these and related questions can soon be given an answer.

### Quasi-Periodic Pulsations during the Impulsive and Decay phases of an X-class Flare

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) are often observed in X-ray emission from solar flares. To date, it is unclear what their physical origins are. Here, we present a multi-instrument investigation of the nature of QPP during the impulsive and decay phases of the X1.0 flare of 28 October 2013. We focus on the character of the fine structure pulsations evident in the soft X-ray time derivatives and compare this variability with structure across multiple wavelengths including hard X-ray and microwave emission. We find that during the impulsive phase of the flare, high correlations between pulsations in the thermal and non-thermal emissions are seen. A characteristic timescale of ~20s is observed in all channels and a second timescale of ~55s is observed in the non-thermal emissions. Soft X-ray pulsations are seen to persist into the decay phase of this flare, up to 20 minutes after the non-thermal emission has ceased. We find that these decay phase thermal pulsations have very small amplitude and show an increase in characteristic timescale from ~40s up to ~70s. We interpret the bursty nature of the co-existing multi-wavelength QPP during the impulsive phase in terms of episodic particle acceleration and plasma heating. The persistent thermal decay phase QPP are most likely connected with compressive MHD processes in the post-flare loops such as the fast sausage mode or the vertical kink mode.

### Photometric, Spectroscopic and Orbital Period Study of Three Early Type Semi-detached Systems: XZ Aql, UX Her and AT Peg

In this paper we present a combined photometric, spectroscopic and orbital period study of three early-type eclipsing binary systems: XZ Aql, UX Her, and AT Peg. As a result, we have derived the absolute parameters of their components and, on that basis, we discuss their evolutionary states. Furthermore, we compare their parameters with those of other binary systems and with the theoretical models. An analysis of all available up-to-date times of minima indicated that all three systems studied here show cyclic orbital changes, their origin is discussed in detail. Finally, we performed a frequency analysis for possible pulsational behavior and as a result we suggest that XZ Aql hosts a {\delta} Scuti component.

### Exact power series solutions of the structure equations of the general relativistic isotropic fluid stars with linear barotropic and polytropic equations of state

Obtaining exact solutions of the spherically symmetric general relativistic gravitational field equations describing the interior structure of an isotropic fluid sphere is a long standing problem in theoretical and mathematical physics. The usual approach to this problem consists mainly in the numerical investigation of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and of the mass continuity equations, which describes the hydrostatic stability of the dense stars. In the present paper we introduce an alternative approach for the study of the relativistic fluid sphere, based on the relativistic mass equation, obtained by eliminating the energy density in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. Despite its apparent complexity, the relativistic mass equation can be solved exactly by using a power series representation for the mass, and the Cauchy convolution for infinite power series. We obtain exact series solutions for general relativistic dense astrophysical objects described by the linear barotropic and the polytropic equations of state, respectively. For the polytropic case we obtain the exact power series solution corresponding to arbitrary values of the polytropic index $n$. The explicit form of the solution is presented for the polytropic index $n=1$, and for the indexes $n=1/2$ and $n=1/5$, respectively. The case of $n=3$ is also considered. In each case the exact power series solution is compared with the exact numerical solutions, which are reproduced by the power series solutions truncated to seven terms only. The power series representations of the geometric and physical properties of the linear barotropic and polytropic stars are also obtained.

### Exact power series solutions of the structure equations of the general relativistic isotropic fluid stars with linear barotropic and polytropic equations of state [Cross-Listing]

Obtaining exact solutions of the spherically symmetric general relativistic gravitational field equations describing the interior structure of an isotropic fluid sphere is a long standing problem in theoretical and mathematical physics. The usual approach to this problem consists mainly in the numerical investigation of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and of the mass continuity equations, which describes the hydrostatic stability of the dense stars. In the present paper we introduce an alternative approach for the study of the relativistic fluid sphere, based on the relativistic mass equation, obtained by eliminating the energy density in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. Despite its apparent complexity, the relativistic mass equation can be solved exactly by using a power series representation for the mass, and the Cauchy convolution for infinite power series. We obtain exact series solutions for general relativistic dense astrophysical objects described by the linear barotropic and the polytropic equations of state, respectively. For the polytropic case we obtain the exact power series solution corresponding to arbitrary values of the polytropic index $n$. The explicit form of the solution is presented for the polytropic index $n=1$, and for the indexes $n=1/2$ and $n=1/5$, respectively. The case of $n=3$ is also considered. In each case the exact power series solution is compared with the exact numerical solutions, which are reproduced by the power series solutions truncated to seven terms only. The power series representations of the geometric and physical properties of the linear barotropic and polytropic stars are also obtained.

### Time-series Doppler imaging of the red giant HD 208472. Active longitudes and differential rotation

HD 208472 is among the most active RS~CVn binaries with cool starspots. Decade-long photometry has shown that the spots seem to change their longitudinal appearance with a period of about six years, coherent with brightness variations. Our aim is to spatially resolve the stellar surface of HD 208472 and relate the photometric results to the true longitudinal and latitudinal spot appearance. Furthermore, we investigate the surface differential rotation pattern of the star. We employed three years of high-resolution spectroscopic data with a high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) from the STELLA robotic observatory and determined new and more precise stellar physical parameters. Precalculated synthetic spectra were fit to each of these spectra, and we provide new spot-corrected orbital elements. A sample of 34 absorption lines per spectrum was used to calculate mean line profiles with a S/N of several hundred. A total of 13 temperature Doppler images were reconstructed from these line profiles with the inversion code iMap. Differential rotation was investigated by cross-correlating successive Doppler images in each observing season. Spots on HD 208472 are distributed preferably at high latitudes and less frequently around mid-to-low latitudes. No polar-cap like structure is seen at any epoch. We observed a flip-flop event between 2009 and 2010, manifested as a flip of the spot activity from phase 0.0 to phase 0.5, while the overall brightness of the star continued to increase and reached an all-time maximum in 2014. Cross-correlation of successive Doppler images suggests a solar-like differential rotation that is ~15 times weaker than that of the Sun.

### A perturbation study of axisymmetric strongly magnetic degenerate stars : the case of super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs

In the presence of a strong magnetic field a stellar equilibrium configuration, aided by the Lorentz force, can support a larger mass than a non-magnetic one. This has been considered a possible explanation of the super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs giving rise to over-luminous Type-Ia supernovae. We present here linear and non-linear perturbation studies of such strongly magetised configurations and show that axisymmetric configurations with poloidal or toroidal fields are unstable. The numerical evolution of the perturbations shows instability after about an Alfv\'en crossing time. This time scale is very short for the magnetically supported super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs. Uniform rotation about the symmetry axis can reduce the growth rate but can not stabilize the super-massive configurations. It is concluded that long-lived super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs supported by magnetic field are unlikely to occur in Nature.

### Chemical Enrichment of the Pre-Solar Cloud by Supernova Dust Grains

The presence of short-lived radioisotopes (SLRs) in solar system meteorites has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system was exposed to a supernova shortly before or during its formation. Yet results from hydrodynamical models of SLR injection into the proto-solar cloud or disc suggest that gas-phase mixing may not be efficient enough to reproduce the observed abundances. As an alternative, we explore the injection of SLRs via dust grains as a way to overcome the mixing barrier. We numerically model the interaction of a supernova remnant containing SLR-rich dust grains with a nearby molecular cloud. The dust grains are subject to drag forces and both thermal and non-thermal sputtering. We confirm that the expanding gas shell stalls upon impact with the dense cloud and that gas-phase SLR injection occurs slowly due to hydrodynamical instabilities at the cloud surface. In contrast, dust grains of sufficient size (> 1 micron) decouple from the gas and penetrate into the cloud within 0.1 Myr. Once inside the cloud, the dust grains are destroyed by sputtering, releasing SLRs and rapidly enriching the dense (potentially star-forming) regions. Our results suggest that SLR transport on dust grains is a viable mechanism to explain SLR enrichment.

### Another one grinds the dust: Variability of the planetary debris disc at the white dwarf SDSS J104341.53+085558.2

We report nine years of optical spectroscopy of the metal-polluted white dwarf SDSS J104341.53+085558.2, which presents morphological variations of the line profiles of the 8600 \AA\ Ca II triplet emission from the gaseous component of its debris disc. Similar changes in the shape of the Ca II triplet have also been observed in two other systems that host a gaseous disc, and are likely related to the same mechanism. We report the Mg, Si, and Ca abundances of the debris detected in the photosphere of SDSS J1043+0855, place upper limits on O and Fe, and derive an accretion rate of (2.5 - 12)x$10^8$ g/s, consistent with those found in other systems with detected debris discs. The Mg/Si ratio and the upper limit on the Fe/Si ratio of the accreted material broadly agree with those found for the crust of the Earth. We also review the range of variability observed among white dwarfs with planetary debris discs.

### Active phases and flickering of a symbiotic recurrent nova T CrB

T CrB is a symbiotic recurrent nova known to exhibit active phases, characterised by apparent increases in the hot component temperature and the appearance of flickering, i.e. changes in the observed flux on the time-scale of minutes. Historical UV observations have ruled out orbital variability as an explanation for flickering and instead suggest flickering is caused by variable mass transfer. We have analysed optical and X-ray observations to investigate the nature of the flickering as well as the active phases in T CrB. The spectroscopic and photometric observations confirm that the active phases follow two periods of ~1000d and ~5000d. Flickering in the X-rays is detected and follows an amplitude-flux relationship similar to that observed in the optical. The flickering is most prominent at harder X-ray energies, suggesting that it originates in the boundary layer between the accretion disc and the white dwarf. The X-ray radiation from the boundary layer is then reprocessed by a thick accretion disc or a nebula into UV radiation. A more detailed understanding of flickering would benefit from long-term simultaneous X-ray and optical monitoring of the phenomena in symbiotic recurrent novae and related systems such as Z And type symbiotic stars.

### From the Coulomb breakup of halo nuclei to neutron radiative capture

Coulomb breakup is used to infer radiative-capture cross sections at astrophysical energies. We test theoretically the accuracy of this indirect technique in the particular case of 15C, for which both the Coulomb breakup to ^{14}C+n and the radiative capture 14C(n,{\gamma})15C have been measured. We analyse the dependance of Coulomb-breakup calculations on the projectile description in both its initial bound state and its continuum. Our calculations depend not only on the Asymptotic Normalisation Coefficient (ANC) of the 15C ground state, but also on the 14C-n continuum. This questions the method proposed by Summers and Nunes [Phys. Rev. C 78, 011601 (2008), ibid. 78, 069908 (2008)], which assumes that an ANC can be directly extracted from the comparison of calculations to breakup data. Fortunately, the sensitivity to the continuum description can be absorbed in a normalisation constant obtained by a simple {\chi}2 fit of our calculations to the measurements. By restricting this fit to low 14C-n energy in the continuum, we can achieve a better agreement between the radiative-capture cross sections inferred from the Coulomb-breakup method and the exact ones. This result revives the Coulomb-breakup technique to infer neutron radiative-capture capture to loosely-bound states, which would be very useful for r- and s-process modelling in explosive stellar environments.

### From the Coulomb breakup of halo nuclei to neutron radiative capture [Cross-Listing]

Coulomb breakup is used to infer radiative-capture cross sections at astrophysical energies. We test theoretically the accuracy of this indirect technique in the particular case of 15C, for which both the Coulomb breakup to ^{14}C+n and the radiative capture 14C(n,{\gamma})15C have been measured. We analyse the dependance of Coulomb-breakup calculations on the projectile description in both its initial bound state and its continuum. Our calculations depend not only on the Asymptotic Normalisation Coefficient (ANC) of the 15C ground state, but also on the 14C-n continuum. This questions the method proposed by Summers and Nunes [Phys. Rev. C 78, 011601 (2008), ibid. 78, 069908 (2008)], which assumes that an ANC can be directly extracted from the comparison of calculations to breakup data. Fortunately, the sensitivity to the continuum description can be absorbed in a normalisation constant obtained by a simple {\chi}2 fit of our calculations to the measurements. By restricting this fit to low 14C-n energy in the continuum, we can achieve a better agreement between the radiative-capture cross sections inferred from the Coulomb-breakup method and the exact ones. This result revives the Coulomb-breakup technique to infer neutron radiative-capture capture to loosely-bound states, which would be very useful for r- and s-process modelling in explosive stellar environments.

### From the Coulomb breakup of halo nuclei to neutron radiative capture [Cross-Listing]

Coulomb breakup is used to infer radiative-capture cross sections at astrophysical energies. We test theoretically the accuracy of this indirect technique in the particular case of 15C, for which both the Coulomb breakup to ^{14}C+n and the radiative capture 14C(n,{\gamma})15C have been measured. We analyse the dependance of Coulomb-breakup calculations on the projectile description in both its initial bound state and its continuum. Our calculations depend not only on the Asymptotic Normalisation Coefficient (ANC) of the 15C ground state, but also on the 14C-n continuum. This questions the method proposed by Summers and Nunes [Phys. Rev. C 78, 011601 (2008), ibid. 78, 069908 (2008)], which assumes that an ANC can be directly extracted from the comparison of calculations to breakup data. Fortunately, the sensitivity to the continuum description can be absorbed in a normalisation constant obtained by a simple {\chi}2 fit of our calculations to the measurements. By restricting this fit to low 14C-n energy in the continuum, we can achieve a better agreement between the radiative-capture cross sections inferred from the Coulomb-breakup method and the exact ones. This result revives the Coulomb-breakup technique to infer neutron radiative-capture capture to loosely-bound states, which would be very useful for r- and s-process modelling in explosive stellar environments.

### End-to-end simulations of the Visible Tunable Filter for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

The Visible Tunable Filter (VTF) is a narrowband tunable filter system for imaging spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry based. The instrument will be one of the first-light instruments of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope that is currently under construction on Maui (Hawaii). The VTF is being developed by the Kiepenheuer Institut fuer Sonnenphysik in Freiburg as a German contribution to the DKIST. We perform end-to-end simulations of spectropolarimetric observations with the VTF to verify the science requirements of the instrument. The instrument is simulated with two Etalons, and with a single Etalon. The clear aperture of the Etalons is 250 mm, corresponding to a field of view with a diameter of 60 arcsec in the sky (42,000 km on the Sun). To model the large-scale figure errors we employ low-order Zernike polynomials (power and spherical aberration) with amplitudes of 2.5 nm RMS. We use an ideal polarization modulator with equal modulation coefficients of 3-1/2 for the polarization modulation We synthesize Stokes profiles of two iron lines (630.15 nm and 630.25 nm) and for the 854.2 nm line of calcium, for a range of magnetic field values and for several inclination angles. We estimated the photon noise on the basis of the DKIST and VTF transmission values, the atmospheric transmission and the spectral flux from the Sun. For the Fe 630.25 nm line, we obtain a sensitivity of 20 G for the longitudinal component and for 150 G for the transverse component, in agreement with the science requirements for the VTF.

### The Role of Magnetic Helicity in Structuring the Solar Corona

Two of the most widely observed and yet most puzzling features of the Sun's magnetic field are coronal loops that are smooth and laminar and prominences/filaments that are strongly sheared. These two features would seem to be quite unrelated in that the loops are near their minimum-energy current-free state, whereas filaments are regions of high magnetic stress and intense electric currents. We argue that, in fact, these two features are inextricably linked in that both are due to a single process: the injection of magnetic helicity into the corona by photospheric motions and the subsequent evolution of this helicity by coronal reconnection. In this paper, we present numerical simulations of the response of a \citet{Parker72} corona to photospheric driving motions that have varying degrees of helicity preference. We obtain four main conclusions: 1) in agreement with the helicity condensation model of \citet{Antiochos13}, the inverse cascade of helicity by magnetic reconnection results in the formation of prominences/filaments localized about polarity inversion lines (PILs); 2) this same process removes most structure from the rest of the corona, resulting in smooth and laminar coronal loops; 3) the amount of remnant tangling in coronal loops is inversely dependent on the net helicity injected by the driving motions; and 4) the structure of the solar corona depends only on the helicity preference of the driving motions and not on their detailed time dependence. We discuss the implications of our results for high-resolution observations of the corona.

### Transition Region and Chromospheric Signatures of Impulsive Heating Events. II. Modeling

Results from the Solar Maximum Mission showed a close connection between the hard X-ray and transition region emission in solar flares. Analogously, the modern combination of RHESSI and IRIS data can inform the details of heating processes in ways never before possible. We study a small event that was observed with RHESSI, IRIS, SDO, and Hinode, allowing us to strongly constrain the heating and hydrodynamical properties of the flare, with detailed observations presented in a previous paper. Long duration red-shifts of transition region lines observed in this event, as well as many other events, are fundamentally incompatible with chromospheric condensation on a single loop. We combine RHESSI and IRIS data to measure the energy partition among the many magnetic strands that comprise the flare. Using that observationally determined energy partition, we show that a proper multi-threaded model can reproduce these red-shifts in magnitude, duration, and line intensity, while simultaneously being well constrained by the observed density, temperature, and emission measure. We comment on the implications for both RHESSI and IRIS observations of flares in general, namely that: (1) a single loop model is inconsistent with long duration red-shifts, among other observables; (2) the average time between energization of strands is less than 10 seconds, which implies that for a hard X-ray burst lasting ten minutes, there were at least 60 strands within a single IRIS pixel located on the flare ribbon; (3) the majority of these strands were explosively heated with energy distribution well described by a power law of slope $\approx -1.6$; (4) the multi-stranded model reproduces the observed line profiles, peak temperatures, differential emission measure distributions, and densities.

### The rotation - Lithium depletion correlation in the beta Pictoris association and the LDB age determination

There is evidence in the 125-Myr Pleiades cluster, and more recently in the 5-Myr NGC 2264 cluster, that rotation plays a key role in the Lithium (Li) depletion processes among low-mass stars. Fast rotators appear to be less Li-depleted than equal-mass slow rotators. We intend to explore the existence of a Li depletion - rotation connection among the beta Pictoris members at an age of about 24 Myr, and to use such correlation either to confirm or to improve the age estimate based on the Lithium Depletion Boundary (LDB) modeling. We have photometrically monitored all the known members of the beta Pictoris association with at least one Lithium equivalent width (Li EW) measurement from the literature. We measured the rotation periods of 30 members for the first time and retrieved from the literature the rotation periods for other 36 members, building a catalogue of 66 members with measured rotation period and Li EW. We find that in the 0.3 < M < 0.8 Msun range, there is a strong correlation between rotation and Li EW. For higher mass stars, no significant correlation is found. For very low mass stars in the Li depletion onset, at about 0.1 Msun, data are too few to infer a significant correlation. The observed Li EWs are compared with those predicted by the Dartmouth stellar evolutionary models that incorporate the effects of magnetic fields. After decorrelating the Li EW from the rotation period, we find that the hot side of the LDB is fitted well by Li EW values corresponding to an age of 25$\pm$3 Myr in good agreement with independent estimates from the literature.

### Signatures of nonlinear mode interactions in the pulsating hot B subdwarf star KIC 10139564

We analyse 38-month of contiguous short-cadence data, concentrating on mode multiplets induced by the star rotation and on frequencies forming linear combinations that show intriguing behaviors during the course of the observations. We find clear signatures that point toward nonlinear effects predicted by resonant mode coupling mechanisms. These couplings can induce various mode behaviors for the components of multiplets and for frequencies related by linear relationships. We find that a triplet at 5760\,$\mu$Hz, a quintuplet at 5287\,$\mu$Hz and a ($\ell>2$) multiplet at 5412\,$\mu$Hz, all induced by rotation, show clear frequency and amplitude modulations which are typical of the so-called intermediate regime of a resonance between the components. One triplet at 316\,$\mu$Hz and a doublet at 394\,$\mu$Hz show modulated amplitude and constant frequency which can be associated with a narrow transitory regime of the resonance. Another triplet at 519\,$\mu$Hz appears to be in a frequency lock regime where both frequency and amplitude are constant. Additionally, three linear combination of frequencies near 6076\,$\mu$Hz also show amplitude and frequency modulations, which are likely related to a three-mode direct resonance. The identified frequency and amplitude modulations are the first clear-cut signatures of nonlinear resonant couplings occurring in pulsating hot B subdwarf stars. However, the observed behaviors suggest that the resonances occurring in these stars usually follow more complicated patterns than the simple predictions from current nonlinear theoretical frameworks. These results should therefore motivate further work to develop the theory of nonlinear stellar pulsations, considering that stars like KIC~10139564 now offer remarkable testbeds to do so.

### Evolution of binary seeds in collapsing protostellar gas clouds

We perform three dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of gas accretion onto the seeds of binary stars to investigate their short-term evolution. Our simulation setup is more realistic compared to the previous works by taking into account of dynamically evolving envelope with non-uniform distribution of gas density and angular momentum of accreting flow. Our initial condition includes a seed binary and a surrounding gas envelope, modelling the phase of core collapse of gas cloud when the fragmentation has already occurred. We assume that the seed binary has no eccentricity and no growth by gas accretion. The envelope is assumed to be an isothermal gas with no self-gravity. We run multiple simulations with different values of initial mass ratio $q_0$ (the ratio of secondary over primary mass) and gas temperature, and find a critical value of $q_{\rm c} = 0.25$ which distinguishes the later evolution of mass ratio $q$ as a function of time. If $q_0 \ga q_{\rm c}$, the secondary seed grows faster and $q$ increases monotonically towards unity. If $q_0 \la q_{\rm c}$, on the other hand, the primary seed grows faster and $q$ is lower than $q_0$ at the end of the simulation. Based on our numerical results, we analytically calculate the long-term evolution of the seed binary including the growth of binary by gas accretion. We find that the seed binary with $q_0 \ga q_{\rm c}$ evolves towards an equal-mass binary star, and that with $q_0 \la q_{\rm c}$ evolves to a binary with an extreme value of $q$. Binary separation is a monotonically increasing function of time for any $q_0$, suggesting that the binary growth by accretion does not lead to the formation of close binaries.

### Star Formation Relations in the Milky Way

The relations between star formation and properties of molecular clouds are studied based on a sample of star forming regions in the Galactic Plane. Sources were selected by having radio recombination lines to provide identification of associated molecular clouds and dense clumps. Radio continuum and mid-infrared emission were used to determine star formation rates, while 13CO and submillimeter dust continuum emission were used to obtain masses of molecular and dense gas, respectively. We test whether total molecular gas or dense gas provides the best predictor of star formation rate. We also test two specific theoretical models, one relying on the molecular mass divided by the free-fall time, the other using the free-fall time divided by the crossing time. Neither is supported by the data. The data are also compared to those from nearby star forming regions and extragalactic data. The star formation "efficiency," defined as star formation rate divided by mass, spreads over a large range when the mass refers to molecular gas; the standard deviation of the log of the efficiency decreases by a factor of three when the mass of relatively dense molecular gas is used rather than the mass of all the molecular gas.

### Global Energetics of Solar Flares: III. Non thermal Energies

This study entails the third part of a global flare energetics project, in which RHESSI data of 193 M and X-class flare events from the first 3.5 yrs of the SDO) mission are analyzed. We fit a thermal and a nonthermal component to RHESSI spectra, yielding the temperature of the differential emission measure (DEM) tail, the nonthermal power law slope and flux, and the thermal/nonthermal cross-over energy. From these parameters we calculate the total non thermal energy in electrons with two different methods: (i) using the observed cross-over energy as low-energy cutoff, and (ii) using the low-energy cutoff predicted by the warm thick-target bremsstrahlung model of Kontar et al. We find commensurable ranges of the low-energy or 21+/-6 keV for the cross-over method, and 18+/-6 keV for the warm-target model. Comparing with the statistics of magnetically dissipated energies and thermal energies in the two previous studies, we find the following mean (logarithmic) energy ratios: E_nt=0.07 E_mag, and E_th=0.74 E_Na, with a logarithmic standard deviation corresponding to a factor of 8. A new finding is that the thermal energy exceeds the nonthermal energy in 40% of the flares, with the energy ratio E_th/E_nt being anti-correlated with the flare size or GOES class. This implies an insufficiency of the electron beam thick-target model in those events to explain the full amount of thermal flare plasma, as it has been noted earlier and interpreted as failure of the "theoretical Neupert effect". Additional heating of the thermal flare plasma is needed besides the chromospheric evaporation process, such as by thermal conduction fronts or direct heating processes. However, the total dissipated magnetic energy, most likely to be produced by a magnetic reconnection process, is still found to be sufficient to explain both the thermal and non thermal energies in flares.

### Studies of the Long Secondary Periods in Pulsating Red Giants

We have used systematic, sustained visual observations from the AAVSO International Database, and the AAVSO time-series analysis package VSTAR to study the unexplained "long secondary periods" (LSPs) in 27 pulsating red giants. In our sample, the LSPs range from 479 to 2967 days, and are on average 8.1 +/- 1.3 times the pulsation period. There is no evidence for more than one LSP in each star. In stars with both the fundamental and first overtone radial period present, the LSP is more often about 10 times the latter. The visual amplitudes of the LSPs are typically 0.1 magnitude and do not correlate with the LSP. The phase curves tend to be sinusoidal, but at least two are sawtooth. The LSPs are stable, within their errors, over the timespan of our data, which is typically 25,000 days. The amplitudes, however, vary by up to a factor of two or more on a timescale of roughly 20-30 LSPs. There is no obvious difference between the behavior of the carbon (C) stars and the normal oxygen (M) stars. Previous multicolor photoelectric observations showed that the LSP color variations are similar to those of the pulsation period, and of the LSPs in the Magellanic Clouds, and not like those of eclipsing stars. We note that the LSPs are similar to the estimated rotation periods of the stars, though the latter have large uncertainties. This suggests that the LSP phenomenon may be a form of modulated rotational variability.

### A Census of Large-Scale ($\ge$ 10 pc), Velocity-Coherent, Dense Filaments in the Northern Galactic Plane: Automated Identification Using Minimum Spanning Tree

Large-scale gaseous filaments with length up to the order of 100 pc are on the upper end of the filamentary hierarchy of the Galactic interstellar medium. Their association with respect to the Galactic structure and their role in Galactic star formation are of great interest from both observational and theoretical point of view. Previous "by-eye" searches, combined together, have started to uncover the Galactic distribution of large filaments, yet inherent bias and small sample size limit conclusive statistical results to be drawn. Here, we present (1) a new, automated method to identify large-scale velocity-coherent dense filaments, and (2) the first statistics and the Galactic distribution of these filaments. We use a customized minimum spanning tree algorithm to identify filaments by connecting voxels in the position-position-velocity space, using the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey spectroscopic catalog. In the range of $7.^{\circ}5 \le l \le 194^{\circ}$, we have identified 54 large-scale filaments and derived mass ($\sim 10^3 - 10^5 \, M_\odot$), length (10-276 pc), linear mass density (54-8625 $M_\odot \, \rm{pc}^{-1}$), aspect ratio, linearity, velocity gradient, temperature, fragmentation, Galactic location and orientation angle. The filaments concentrate along major spiral arms. They are widely distributed across the Galactic disk, with 50% located within $\pm$20 pc from the Galactic mid-plane and 27% run in the center of spiral arms (aka "bones"). An order of 1% of the molecular ISM is confined in large filaments. Massive star formation is more favorable in large filaments compared to elsewhere. This is the first comprehensive catalog of large filaments useful for a quantitative comparison with spiral structures and numerical simulations.

### Pseudomagnitude Distances: Application to the Pleiades cluster

The concept of pseudomagnitude was recently introduced by Chelli et al. (2016), to estimate apparent stellar diameters using a strictly observational methodology. Pseudomagnitudes are distance indicators, which have the remarkable property of being reddening free. In this study, we use Hipparcos parallax measurements to compute the mean absolute pseudomagnitudes of solar neighbourhood dwarf stars as a function of their spectral type. To illustrate the use of absolute pseudomagnitudes, we derive the distance moduli of $360$ Pleiades stars and find that the centroid of their distribution is $5.715\pm0.018$, corresponding to a distance of $139.0\pm1.2$\,pc. We locate the subset of $\sim 50$ Pleiades stars observed by Hipparcos at a mean distance of $135.5\pm3.7$\,pc, thus confirming the frequently reported anomaly in the Hipparcos measurements of these stars.

### The Eruption of the Candidate Young Star ASASSN-15qi

Outbursts on young stars are usually interpreted as accretion bursts caused by instabilities in the disk or the star-disk connection. However, some protostellar outbursts may not fit into this framework. In this paper, we analyze optical and near-infrared spectra and photometry to characterize the 2015 outburst of the probable young star ASASSN-15qi. The $\sim 3.5$ mag brightening in the $V$ band was sudden, with an unresolved rise time of less than one day. The outburst decayed exponentially by 1 mag for 6 days and then gradually back to the pre-outburst level after 200 days. The outburst is dominated by emission from $\sim10,000$ K gas. An explosive release of energy accelerated matter from the star in all directions, seen in a spectacular cool, spherical wind with a maximum velocity of 1000 km/s. The wind and hot gas both disappeared as the outburst faded and the source the source returned to its quiescent F-star spectrum. Nebulosity near the star brightened with a delay of 10-20 days. Fluorescent excitation of H$_2$ is detected in emission from vibrational levels as high as $v=11$, also with a possible time delay in flux increase. The mid-infrared spectral energy distribution does not indicate the presence of warm dust emission, although the optical photospheric absorption and CO overtone emission could be related to a gaseous disk. Archival photometry reveals a prior outburst in 1976. Although we speculate about possible causes for this outburst, none of the explanations are compelling.

### Observational Constraints on First-Star Nucleosynthesis. I. Evidence for Multiple Progenitors of CEMP-no Stars [Replacement]

We investigate anew the distribution of absolute carbon abundance, $A$(C) $= \log\,\epsilon$(C), for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in the halo of the Milky Way, based on high-resolution spectroscopic data for a total sample of 301 CEMP stars. The sample includes 147 CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-r/s) stars, 124 CEMP-no stars, and 30 CEMP stars that are unclassified, based on the currently employed [Ba/Fe] criterion. We confirm previous claims that the distribution of $A$(C) for CEMP stars is (at least) bimodal, with newly determined peaks centered on $A$(C)$=7.93$ (the high-C region) and $A$(C)$=6.28$ (the low-C region). A very high fraction of CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-r/s) stars belong to the high-C region, while the great majority of CEMP-no stars reside in the low-C region. However, there exists complexity in the morphology of the $A$(C)-[Fe/H] space for the CEMP-no stars, a first indication that more than one class of first-generation stellar progenitors may be required to account for their observed abundances. The two groups of CEMP-no stars we identify exhibit clearly different locations in the $A$(Na)-$A$(C) and $A$(Mg)-$A$(C) spaces, also suggesting multiple progenitors. The clear distinction in $A$(C) between the CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-$r/s$) stars and the CEMP-no stars appears to be $as\ successful$, and $likely\ more\ astrophysically\ fundamental$, for the separation of these sub-classes as the previously recommended criterion based on [Ba/Fe] (and [Ba/Eu]) abundance ratios. This result opens the window for its application to present and future large-scale low- and medium-resolution spectroscopic surveys.

### Observational Constraints on First-Star Nucleosynthesis. I. Evidence for Multiple Progenitors of CEMP-no Stars

We investigate anew the distribution of absolute carbon abundance, $A$(C) $= \log\,\epsilon$(C), for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in the halo of the Milky Way, based on high-resolution spectroscopic data for a total sample of 301 CEMP stars. The sample includes 147 CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-r/s) stars, 124 CEMP-no stars, and 30 CEMP stars that are unclassified, based on the currently employed [Ba/Fe] criterion. We confirm previous claims that the distribution of $A$(C) for CEMP stars is (at least) bimodal, with newly determined peaks centered on $A$(C)$=7.93$ (the high-C region) and $A$(C)$=6.28$ (the low-C region). A very high fraction of CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-r/s) stars belong to the high-C region, while the great majority of CEMP-no stars reside in the low-C region. However, there exists complexity in the morphology of the $A$(C)-[Fe/H] space for the CEMP-no stars, a first indication that more than one class of first-generation stellar progenitors may be required to account for their observed abundances. The two groups of CEMP-no stars we identify exhibit clearly different locations in the $A$(Na)-$A$(C) and $A$(Mg)-$A$(C) spaces, also suggesting multiple progenitors. The clear distinction in $A$(C) between the CEMP-$s$ (and CEMP-$r/s$) stars and the CEMP-no stars appears to be $as\ successful$, and $likely\ more\ astrophysically\ fundamental$, for the separation of these sub-classes as the previously recommended criterion based on [Ba/Fe] (and [Ba/Eu]) abundance ratios. This result opens the window for its application to present and future large-scale low- and medium-resolution spectroscopic surveys.

### Long-Term Photometry of IC 348 with the YETI Network

We present long-term photometric observations of the young open cluster IC 348 with a baseline time-scale of 2.4 yr. Our study was conducted with several telescopes from the Young Exoplanet Transit Initiative (YETI) network in the Bessel $R$ band to find periodic variability of young stars. We identified 87 stars in IC 348 to be periodically variable; 33 of them were unreported before. Additionally, we detected 61 periodic non-members of which 41 are new discoveries. Our wide field of view was the key to those numerous newly found variable stars. The distribution of rotation periods in IC 348 has always been of special interest. We investigate it further with our newly detected periods but we cannot find a statistically significant bimodality. We also report the detection of a close eclipsing binary in IC 348 composed of a low-mass stellar component ($M \gtrsim 0.09\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) and a K0 pre-main sequence star ($M \approx 2.7\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$). Furthermore, we discovered three detached binaries among the background stars in our field of view and confirmed the period of a fourth one.

### Historical light-curve and the 2016 outburst of the symbiotic star StHa 169

Accurate BVRI optical photometry of StHa 169 has been collected during the period 2005-2016. It reveals two outbursts, in 2009 and 2016, both peaking at B=13.6. The mean brightness in quiescence was B=15.29. In response to the 2016 outburst, the integrated absolute flux of the emission lines increased by a factor of 7 for Balmer, 9 for HeI lines, and 4.5 for HeII 4686, the Balmer continuum turned into strong emission, and [NeV] 3526 and OVI Raman 6825 Ang emissions disappeared. We have reconstructed the 1897-1951 B-band lightcurve of StHa 169 from Harvard historical plates. On top of a slow decline from a large outburst, ending in 1916, several brightenings are visible. Two fast-evolving outbursts, separated by 510 days, occurred in 1934 and 1935, peaking at B=13.7. The brightness in quiescence was the same as we measured in 2005-2016

### The 2016 outburst of the unique symbiotic star MWC 560 (= V694 Mon), its long-term BVRI evolution and a marked 331 days periodicity

After 26 years from the major event of 1990, in early 2016 the puzzling symbiotic binary MWC 560 has gone into a new and even brighter outburst. We present our tight BVRI photometric monitoring of MWC 560 (451 independent runs distributed over 357 different nights), covering the 2005-2016 interval, and the current outburst in particoular. A stricking feature of the 2016 outburst has been the suppression of the short term chaotic variability during the rise toward maximum brightness, and its dominance afterward with an amplitude in excess of 0.5 mag. Similar to the 1990 event when the object remained around maximum brightness for ~6 months, at the time Solar conjunction prevented further observations of the current outburst, MWC 560 was still around maximum, three months past reaching it. We place our observations into a long term contex by combining with literature data to provide a complete 1928-2016 lightcurve. Some strong periodicities are found to modulate the optical photometry of MWC 560. A period of 1860 days regulate the occourence of bright phases at BVR bands (with exactly 5.0 cycles separating the 1990 and 2016 outbursts), while the peak brightness attained during bright phases seems to vary with a ~9570 days cycle. A clean 331 day periodicity modulate the I-band lightcurve, where the emission from the M giant dominates, with a lightcurve strongly reminiscent of an ellipsoidal distortion plus irradiation from the hot companion. Pros and cons of 1860 and 331 days as the system orbital period are reviewed, waiting for a spectroscopic radial velocity orbit of the M giant to settle the question (provided the orbit is not oriented face-on).

### Time-Dependent Tomographic Reconstruction of the Solar Corona

Solar rotational tomography (SRT) applied to white-light coronal images observed at multiple aspect angles has been the preferred approach for determining the three-dimensional (3D) electron density structure of the solar corona. However, it is seriously hampered by the restrictive assumption that the corona is time-invariant which introduces significant errors in the reconstruction. We first explore several methods to mitigate the temporal variation of the corona by decoupling the "fast-varying" inner corona from the "slow-moving" outer corona using multiple masking (either by juxtaposition or recursive combination) and radial weighting. Weighting with a radial exponential profile provides some improvement over a classical reconstruction but only beyond 3 Rsun. We next consider a full time-dependent tomographic reconstruction involving spatio-temporal regularization and further introduce a co-rotating regularization aimed at preventing concentration of reconstructed density in the plane of the sky. Crucial to testing our procedure and properly tuning the regularization parameters is the introduction of a time-dependent MHD model of the corona based on observed magnetograms to build a time-series of synthetic images of the corona. Our procedure, which successfully reproduces the time-varying model corona, is finally applied to a set of of 53 LASCO-C2 pB images roughly evenly spaced in time from 15 to 29 March 2009. Our procedure paves the way to a time-dependent tomographic reconstruction of the coronal electron density to the whole set of LASCO-C2 images presently spanning 20 years.

### Sun-to-Earth Characteristics of the 2012 July 12 Coronal Mass Ejection and Associated Geo-effectiveness

We analyze multi-spacecraft observations associated with the 2012 July 12 Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), covering the source region on the Sun from SDO, stereoscopic imaging observations from STEREO, magnetic field characteristics at MESSENGER, and type II radio burst and in situ measurements from Wind. A triangulation method based on STEREO stereoscopic observations is employed to determine the kinematics of the CME, and the outcome is compared with the result derived from the type II radio burst with a solar wind electron density model. A Grad-Shafranov technique is applied to Wind in situ data to reconstruct the flux-rope structure and compare it with the observation of the solar source region, which helps understand the geo-effectiveness associated with the CME structure. Conclusions are as follows: (1) the CME undergoes an impulsive acceleration, a rapid deceleration before reaching MESSENGER, and then a gradual deceleration out to 1 AU, which should be noticed in CME kinematics models; (2) the type II radio burst was probably produced from a high-density interaction region between the CME-driven shock and a nearby streamer or from the shock flank with lower heights, which implies uncertainties in the determination of CME kinematics using solely type II radio bursts; (3) the flux-rope orientation and chirality deduced from in situ reconstruction at Wind agree with those obtained from solar source observations; (4) the prolonged southward magnetic field near the Earth is mainly from the axial component of the largely southward inclined flux rope, which indicates the importance of predicting both the flux-rope orientation and magnetic field components in geomagnetic activity forecasting.

### Composite Circumstellar Dust Grains

We calculate the absorption efficiencies of composite silicate grains with inclusions of graphite and silicon carbide in the spectral range 5--25$\rm \mu m$. We study the variation in absorption profiles with volume fractions of inclusions. In particular we study the variation in the wavelength of peak absorption at 10 and 18$\rm \mu m$. We also study the variation of the absorption of porous silicate grains. We use the absorption efficiencies to calculate the infrared flux at various dust temperatures and compare with the observed infrared emission flux from the circumstellar dust around some M-Type \& AGB stars obtained from IRAS and a few stars from Spitzer satellite. We interpret the observed data in terms of the circumstellar dust grain sizes; shape; composition and dust temperature.

### Observed and Simulated Power Spectra of Kinetic and Magnetic Energy retrieved with 2D inversions

We try to retrieve the power spectra with certainty to the highest spatial frequencies allowed by current instrumentation. For this, we use 2D inversion code that were able to recover information up to the instrumental diffraction limit. The retrieved power spectra have shallow slopes extending further down to much smaller scales than found before. They seem not to show any power law. The observed slopes at subgranular scales agree with those obtained from recent local dynamo simulations. Small differences are found for vertical component of kinetic energy that suggest that observations suffer from an instrumental effect that is not taken into account.

### Population Synthesis of Cataclysmic Variables: I. Inclusion of Detailed Nuclear Evolution

We have carried out an extensive population synthesis study of the ensemble properties of the present-day population of cataclysmic variables (PDCVs) that takes into account the nuclear evolution of high-mass donors close to the bifurcation and dynamical instability limits. Assuming the interrupted magnetic braking paradigm, we confirm many of the general features associated with the observed CV population and find enormous diversity in their secular properties. We predict that nearly half of the non-magnetic CVs with Porb > 6 hours are at least mildly evolved (i.e., greater than one-half of their MS turn-off age). Some of these systems contribute to the observed population of PDCVs in the period gap. We also see an enhancement by up to a factor of two in the probability of detecting CVs at the `minimum period'. This spike is quite narrow (approximately 5 minutes) and is attenuated because of the spectrum of WD masses and partly by the evolution of the donors. Our syntheses imply that there should be a very rapid decline in the number of ultracompact CVs (such as AM CVns). We find that between 0.05 to 1 percent of PDCVs could be UCs, and thus it is likely that the CV channel is probably not the primary contributor to the intrinsic population of UCs (especially for Porb < 30 minutes). Finally, a preliminary analysis of our results suggests that WDs in PDCVs experience a net gain in mass of less than about 0.1 Msun as a result of high mass-transfer rates early in their evolution.

### Peculiarity of the oscillation stratification in sunspot penumbrae

Spatial distributions of the dominant oscillation frequency obtained for four sunspots show a feature shared by all the analysed levels of the solar atmosphere in these sunspots. This feature located in the inner penumbrae indicates that this region has favourable conditions for 2.5-4 mHz oscillation propagation. This agrees with the fact that the spectral composition of the oscillations at three atmospheric heights (FeI 6173{\AA}, 1700{\AA}, and He II 304{\AA}) in this region are similar. There have been previous evidence of particular similarities along height of photospheric magnetic field strength, line-of-sight velocity, and temperature profile in the inner penumbra, where the internal boundary of the Evershed flow is located. The finding of the same dominant oscillation frequency at a range of altitudes from the chromosphere up to the transition region extends the height range, suggesting similarities in physical conditions.

### Estimate the radius of the convective core of main-sequence stars from observed oscillation frequencies

The determination of the size of the convective core of main-sequence stars is usually dependent on the construction of models of stars. Here we introduce a method to estimate the radius of the convective core of main-sequence stars with masses between about 1.1 and 1.5 $M_{\odot}$ from observed frequencies of low-degree p-modes. A formula is proposed to achieve the estimation. The values of the radius of the convective core of four known stars are successfully estimated by the formula. The radius of the convective core of KIC 9812850 estimated by the formula is $\mathbf{0.140\pm0.028}$ $R_{\odot}$. In order to confirm this prediction, a grid of evolutionary models were computed. The value of the convective-core radius of the best-fit model of KIC 9812850 is $0.149$ $R_{\odot}$, which is in good agreement with that estimated by the formula from observed frequencies. The formula aids in understanding the interior structure of stars directly from observed frequencies. The understanding is not dependent on the construction of models.

### Physical parameter study of eight W Ursae Majoris-type contact binaries in NGC 188

We used the newly commissioned 50 cm Binocular Network (50BiN) telescope at Qinghai Station of Purple Mountain Observatory (Chinese Academy of Sciences) to observe the old open cluster NGC 188 in V and R as part of a search for variable objects. Our time-series data span a total of 36 days. Radial velocity and proper-motion selection resulted in a sample of 532 genuine cluster members. Isochrone fitting was applied to the cleaned cluster sequence, yielding a distance modulus of (m - M)0V = 11.35 \pm 0.10 mag and a total foreground reddening of E(V - R) = 0.062 \pm 0.002 mag. Light-curve solutions were obtained for eight W Ursae Majoris eclipsing-binary systems (W UMas) and their orbital parameters were estimated. Using the latter parameters, we estimate a distance to the W UMas which is independent of the host cluster's physical properties. Based on combined fits to six of the W UMas (EP Cep, EQ Cep, ES Cep, V369 Cep, and--for the first time--V370 Cep and V782 Cep), we obtain an average distance modulus of (m - M)0V = 11.31 \pm 0.08 mag, which is comparable with that resulting from our isochrone fits. These six W UMas exhibit an obvious period-luminosity relation. We derive more accurate physical parameters for the W UMa systems and discuss their initial masses and ages. The former show that these W UMa systems have likely undergone angular-momentum evolution within a convective envelope (W-type evolution). The ages of the W UMa systems agree well with the cluster's age.

### Braking indices of pulsars obtained in the presence of an effective force

Braking indices of pulsars present a scientific challenge as their theoretical calculation is still an open problem. In this paper we report results of a study regarding such calculation which adapts the canonical model (which admits that pulsars are rotating magnetic dipoles) basically by introducing a compensating component in the energy conservation equation of the system. This component would correspond to an effective force that varies with the first power of the tangential velocity of the pulsar's crust. We test the proposed model using data available and predict braking indices values for different stars. We comment on the high braking index recently measured of the pulsar J1640-4631.

### A Brown Dwarf Census from the SIMP Survey

We have conducted a near-infrared (NIR) proper motion survey, the Sondage Infrarouge de Mouvement Propre (SIMP), in order to discover field ultracool dwarfs (UCD) in the solar neighborhood. The survey was conducted by imaging $\sim28\%$ of the sky with the Camera PAnoramique Proche-InfraRouge (CPAPIR) both in the southern hemisphere at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 1.5-m telescope, and in the northern hemisphere at the Observatoire du Mont-M\'egantic (OMM) 1.6-m telescope and comparing the source positions from these observations with the Two Micron All-Sky Survey Point Source Catalog (2MASS PSC). Additional color criteria were used to further discriminate unwanted astrophysical sources. We present the results of a NIR spectroscopic follow-up of 169 M, L and T dwarfs. Among the sources discovered are two young field brown dwarfs, six unusually red M and L dwarfs, twenty-five unusually blue M and L dwarfs, two candidate unresolved L+T binaries and twenty-four peculiar UCDs. Additionally, we add eighteen L/T transition dwarfs (L6-T4.5) to the already known objects.