The detection of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) in the solar neighborhood would have very important implications for GRB phenomenology. The leading theories for cosmological GRBs would not be able to explain such events. The final bursts of evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs), however, would be a natural explanation for local GRBs. We present a novel technique that can constrain the distance to GRBs using detections from widely separated, non-imaging spacecraft. This method can determine the actual distance to the burst if it is local. We applied this method to constrain distances to a sample of 36 short-duration GRBs detected by the Interplanetary Network (IPN) that show observational properties that are expected from PBH evaporations. These bursts have minimum possible distances in the 10(13)-10(18) cm (7-10(5) au) range, which are consistent with the expected PBH energetics and with a possible origin in the solar neighborhood, although none of the bursts can be unambiguously demonstrated to be local. Assuming that these bursts are real PBH events, we estimate lower limits on the PBH burst evaporation rate in the solar neighborhood.

We characterize the first 40 Myr of evolution of circumstellar disks through a unified study of the infrared properties of members of young clusters and associations with ages from 2 Myr up to similar to 40 Myr: NGC 1333, NGC 1960, NGC 2232, NGC 2244, NGC 2362, NGC 2547, IC 348, IC 2395, IC 4665, Chamaeleon I, Orion OB1a and OB1b, Taurus, the beta Pictoris Moving Group,. Ophiuchi, and the associations of Argus, Carina, Columba, Scorpius-Centaurus, and Tucana-Horologium. Our work features: (1) a filtering technique to flag noisy backgrounds; (2) a method based on the probability distribution of deflections, P(D), to obtain statistically valid photometry for faint sources; and (3) use of the evolutionary trend of transitional disks to constrain the overall behavior of bright disks. We find that the fraction of disks three or more times brighter than the stellar photospheres at 24 mu m decays relatively slowly initially and then much more rapidly by similar to 10 Myr. However, there is a continuing component until similar to 35 Myr, probably due primarily to massive clouds of debris generated in giant impacts during the oligarchic/chaotic growth phases of terrestrial planets. If the contribution from primordial disks is excluded, the evolution of the incidence of these oligarchic/chaotic debris disks can be described empirically by a log-normal function with the peak at 12-20 Myr, including similar to 13% of the original population, and with a post-peak mean duration of 10-20 Myr.

The optically and IR-bright and starlight-scattering HR 4796A ringlike debris disk is one of the most-(and best-) studied exoplanetary debris systems. The presence of a yet-undetected planet has been inferred (or suggested) from the narrow width and inner/outer truncation radii of its r = 1.'' 05 (77 au) debris ring. We present new, highly sensitive Hubble Space Telescope (HST) visible-light images of the HR 4796A circumstellar debris system and its environment over a very wide range of stellocentric angles from 0.'' 32 (23 au) to approximate to 15 '' (1100 au). These very high-contrast images were obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) using six-roll PSF template-subtracted coronagraphy suppressing the primary light of HR 4796A, with three image-plane occulters, and simultaneously subtracting the background light from its close angular proximity M2.5V companion. The resulting images unambiguously reveal the debris ring embedded within a much larger, morphologically complex, and biaxially asymmetric exo-ring scattering structure. These images at visible wavelengths are sensitive to and map the spatial distribution, brightness, and radial surface density of micron-size particles over 5 dex in surface brightness. These particles in the exo-ring environment may be unbound from the system and interacting with the local ISM. Herein, we present a new morphological and photometric view of the larger-than-prior-seen HR 4796A exoplanetary debris system with sensitivity to small particles at stellocentric distances an order of magnitude greater than has previously been observed.

GJ. 1214b is the most studied sub-Neptune exoplanet to date. Recent measurements have shown its near-infrared transmission spectrum to be flat, pointing to a high-altitude opacity source in the exoplanet 's atmosphere, either equilibrium condensate clouds or photochemical hazes. Many photometric observations have been reported in the optical by different groups, though simultaneous measurements spanning the entire optical regime are lacking. We present an optical transmission spectrum (4500-9260 angstrom) of GJ. 1214b in 14 bins, measured with Magellan/IMACS repeatedly over three transits. We measure a mean planet-to-star radius ratio of Rp R-s = 0.1146. 2 x 10(-4) and mean uncertainty of sigma(R-p/R-s) = 8.7 x 10(-4) in the spectral bins. The optical transit depths are shallower on average than observed in the near-infrared. We present a model for jointly incorporating the effects of a composite photosphere and atmospheric transmission through the exoplanet's limb (the CPAT model), and use it to examine the cases of absorber and temperature heterogeneities in the stellar photosphere. We find the optical and near-infrared measurements are best explained by the combination of (1) photochemical haze in the exoplanetary atmosphere with a mode particle size r = 0.1 mu m and haze-forming efficiency f(haze) = 10% and (2) faculae in the unocculted stellar disk with a temperature contrast Delta T= 354(-46)(+46) K, assuming 3.2% surface coverage. The CPAT model can be used to assess potential contributions of heterogeneous stellar photospheres to observations of exoplanet transmission spectra, which will be important for searches for spectral features in the optical.

After several years of quiescence, the blazar CTA 102 underwent an exceptional outburst in 2012 September-October. The flare was tracked from gamma-ray to near-infrared (NIR) frequencies, including Fermi and Swift data as well as photometric and polarimetric data from several observatories. An intensive Glast-Agile support programme of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (GASP-WEBT) collaboration campaign in optical and NIR bands, with an addition of previously unpublished archival data and extension through fall 2015, allows comparison of this outburst with the previous activity period of this blazar in 2004-2005. We find remarkable similarity between the optical and gamma-ray behaviour of CTA 102 during the outburst, with a time lag between the two light curves of approximate to 1 h, indicative of cospatiality of the optical and gamma-ray emission regions. The relation between the gamma-ray and optical fluxes is consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) mechanism, with a quadratic dependence of the SSC gamma -ray flux on the synchrotron optical flux evident in the post-outburst stage. However, the gamma -ray/optical relationship is linear during the outburst; we attribute this to changes in the Doppler factor. A strong harder-when-brighter spectral dependence is seen both the in gamma-ray and optical non-thermal emission. This hardening can be explained by convexity of the UV-NIR spectrum that moves to higher frequencies owing to an increased Doppler shift as the viewing angle decreases during the outburst stage. The overall pattern of Stokes parameter variations agrees with a model of a radiating blob or shock wave that moves along a helical path down the jet.

We report the observation and confirmation of the first group-and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either were not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z similar to 0.80-3.2 and in i-band surface brightness i(SB) similar to 23-25 mag arcsec(-2) (2 '' aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius theta(E) and the enclosed mass M-enc, which have ranges theta(E) similar to 5 ''-9 '' and M-enc similar to 8 x 10(12) to 6 x 10(13)M(circle dot), respectively.

We show that the projected number density profiles of Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric galaxies around galaxy clusters display strong evidence for the splashback radius, a sharp halo edge corresponding to the location of the first orbital apocenter of satellite galaxies after their infall. We split the clusters into two subsamples with different mean projected radial distances of their members, < R-mem >, at fixed richness and redshift. The sample with smaller < R-mem > has a smaller ratio of the splashback radius to the traditional halo boundary R-200m than the subsample with larger < R-mem >, indicative of different mass accretion rates for these subsamples. The same subsamples were recently used by Miyatake et al. to show that their large-scale clustering differs despite their similar weak lensing masses, demonstrating strong evidence for halo assembly bias. We expand on this result by presenting a 6.6 sigma difference in the clustering amplitudes of these samples using cluster-photometric galaxy cross-correlations. This measurement is a clear indication that halo clustering depends on parameters other than halo mass. If < R-mem > is related to the mass assembly history of halos, the measurement is a manifestation of the halo assembly bias. However, our measured splashback radii are smaller, while the strength of the assembly bias signal is stronger, than the predictions of collisionless. cold dark matter simulations. We show that dynamical friction, cluster mis-centering, or projection effects are not likely to be the sole source of these discrepancies. However, further investigations regarding unknown catastrophic weak lensing or cluster identification systematics are warranted.

We present new Hubble Space Telescope observations of three a priori known starlight-scattering circumstellar debris systems (CDSs) viewed at intermediate inclinations around nearby close-solar analog stars: HD 207129, HD 202628, and HD 202917. Each of these CDSs possesses ring-like components that are more massive analogs of our solar system's Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. These systems were chosen for follow-up observations to provide imaging with higher fidelity and better sensitivity for the sparse sample of solar-analog CDSs that range over two decades in systemic ages, with HD 202628 and HD 207129 (both similar to 2.3 Gyr) currently the oldest CDSs imaged in visible or near-IR light. These deep (10-14 ks) observations, made with six-roll point-spread-function template visible-light coronagraphy. using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were designed to better reveal their angularly large debris rings of diffuse/low surface brightness, and for all targets probe their exo-ring environments for starlight-scattering materials that present observational challenges for current ground-based facilities and instruments. Contemporaneously also observing with a narrower occulter position, these observations additionally probe the CDS endo-ring environments that are seen to be relatively devoid of scatterers. We discuss the morphological, geometrical, and photometric properties of these CDSs also in the context of other CDSs hosted by FGK stars that we have previously imaged as a homogeneously observed ensemble. From this combined sample we report a general decay in quiescent-disk F-disk/F-star optical brightness similar to t(-0.8), similar to what is seen at thermal IR wavelengths, and CDSs with a significant diversity in scattering phase asymmetries, and spatial distributions of their starlight-scattering grains.

We study the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) signature in South Pole Telescope (SPT) data for an ensemble of 719 optically identified galaxy clusters selected from 124.6 deg(2) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) science verification data, detecting a clear stacked SZE signal down to richness lambda similar to 20. The SZE signature is measured using matched-filtered maps of the 2500 deg(2) SPT-SZ survey at the positions of the DES clusters, and the degeneracy between SZE observable and matched-filter size is broken by adopting as priors SZE and optical mass-observable relations that are either calibrated using SPT-selected clusters or through the Arnaud et al. (A10) X-ray analysis. We measure the SPT signal-to-noise zeta - lambda relation and two integrated Compton-y Y500-lambda relations for the DES-selected clusters and compare these to model expectations that account for the SZE-optical centre offset distribution. For clusters with lambda > 80, the two SPT-calibrated scaling relations are consistent with the measurements, while for the A10-calibrated relation the measured SZE signal is smaller by a factor of 0.61 +/- 0.12 compared to the prediction. For clusters at 20 < lambda < 80, the measured SZE signal is smaller by a factor of similar to 0.20-0.80 (between 2.3 sigma and 10 sigma significance) compared to the prediction, with the SPT-calibrated scaling relations and larger lambda clusters showing generally better agreement. We quantify the required corrections to achieve consistency, showing that there is a richness-dependent bias that can be explained by some combination of (1) contamination of the observables and (2) biases in the estimated halo masses. We also discuss particular physical effects associated with these biases, such as contamination of. from line-of-sight projections or of the SZE observables from point sources, larger offsets in the SZE-optical centring or larger intrinsic scatter in the lambda-mass relation at lower richnesses.

We image 104 newly identified low-mass (mostly M-dwarf) pre-main sequence (PMS) members of nearby young moving groups (YMGs) with Magellan Adaptive Optics (MagAO) and identify 27 stellar binaries with instantaneous projected separation as small as 40 mas. Fifteen were previously unknown. The total number of multiple systems in this sample including spectroscopic and visual binaries from the literature is 36, giving a raw stellar multiplicity rate of at least 35(-4)(+5)% for this population. In the separation range of roughly 1-300 au in which infrared AO imaging is most sensitive, the raw multiplicity rate is at least 24(-4)(+5)% for binaries resolved by the MagAO infrared camera (Clio). The M-star subsample of 87 stars yields a raw multiplicity of at least 30(-4)(+5)% over all separations, 21(-4)(+5)% for secondary companions resolved by Clio from 1 to 300 au (23(-4)(+5)% for all known binaries in this separation range). A combined analysis with binaries discovered by the Search for Associations Containing Young stars shows that stellar multiplicity fraction as a function of mass over the range of 0.2 to 1.2M(circle dot) appears to be linearly flat, in contrast to the field, where multiplicity increases with mass. After bias corrections are applied, the multiplicity of low-mass YMG members (0.2-0.6M(circle dot)) is in excess of the field. The overall multiplicity fraction is also consistent with being constant in age and across YMGs, which suggests that multiplicity rates for this mass range are largely set by 10 Myr without appreciable evolution thereafter.