Research
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2024.12.05
Multi-phase medium in galaxy groups and clusters [EN]
Galaxy groups and clusters are the least massive systems where the bulk of baryons are accounted for and also the most massive systems that are gravitationally bound. They contain a wealth of galaxies sampling the broad spectra of galaxy properties, including the most massive galaxies (and probably the most massive supermassive black holes) and galaxies with the highest velocities in the univer...
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2024.11.28
Water chemistry of the Enceladus ocean and the habitability of icy moons [EN]
Enceladus, a small icy satellite of Saturn, was found to have a subsurface water ocean and evidence of ongoing hydrothermal activity in the seafloor. The ocean water, sampled via a plume, was inferred to contain substantial levels of inorganic and organic carbon as well as ammonia. However, there are very few constraints on the availability of other bio-essential nutrients, including phosphorus...
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2024.11.21
A new picture of active galactic nuclei disks [EN]
The current model of accretion disks, that of Shakura and Sunyaev (1973) asserts that such disks are geometrically thin, and are prone to a number of instabilities. One such instability is that of fragmentation due to self-gravity at radii larger than a few hundred black hole gravitational radii, which would limit the mass accretion rate to be well below that observed to occur. Recent GIZMO (La...
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2024.11.14
Einstein Probe: starting to reveal a deeper and clearer view of the dynamic X-ray universe [EN]
The Einstein Probe (EP, renamed 天关 in Chinese last week), launched on January 9th, 2024, is a space X-ray observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with ESA, MPE and CNES. It is detecting high-energy transient and variable sources in the X-ray band with better sensitivity and spatial resolution by at least one order of magnitude than the other operating wide-field monito...
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2024.11.07
Cosmic evolution of the physical conditions for star and star cluster formation
Recent observations from ALMA and JWST have revealed the complex and turbulent nature of galaxies at high redshift, during the epoch of formation of globular clusters. The emergence of large disks at cosmic dawn (z > 10) and the almost ubiquity of massive star forming clumps at cosmic noon (z~2) question the formation scenarios of globular clusters. Although gravitational lensing pushes the obs...
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