Related papers: A Computational Analysis of Galactic Exploration w…
The perspective of the detectability of Galactic dark matter subhaloes on the Fermi satellite is investigated in this work. Under the assumptions that dark matter annihilation accounts for the "GeV excess" of the Galactic diffuse…
The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) using radio telescopes is an area of research that is now more than 50 years old. Thus far, both targeted and wide-area surveys have yet to detect artificial signals from intelligent…
Of the fourteen transiting extrasolar planetary systems for which radii have been measured, at least three appear to be considerably larger than theoretical estimates suggest. It has been proposed by Bodenheimer, Lin & Mardling that…
The Fermi Bubbles are giant Galactic structures observed in both gamma-rays and microwaves. Recent studies have found support for the hypothesis that the gamma-ray and microwave emission can both be understood as arising from a hard…
Most stars form in embedded clusters. Stellar flybys may affect the orbital architecture of the systems by exciting the eccentricity and causing dynamical instability. Since, incidentally, the timescale over which a cluster loses its…
The Universe is largely transparent to $\gamma$ rays in the GeV energy range, making these high-energy photons valuable for exploring energetic processes in the cosmos. After seven years of operation, the Fermi {\it Gamma-ray Space…
The modestly eccentric and non-coplanar orbits of the giant planets pose a challenge to solar system formation theories which generally indicate that the giant planets emerged from the protoplanetary disk in nearly perfectly circular and…
Recent discoveries of transiting giant exoplanets around M-dwarf stars (GEMS), aided by the all-sky coverage of TESS, are starting to stretch theories of planet formation through the core-accretion scenario. Recent upper limits on their…
Civilization cannot sustain an exponential growth for long time even when neglecting numerous laws of physics! In this paper, we examine what are fundamental obstacles to long term survival of a civilization and its possibility to colonize…
The fate of planets around rapidly evolving stars is not well understood. Previous studies have suggested that relative to the main sequence population, planets transiting evolved stars ($P$ $<$ 100 d) tend to have more eccentric orbits.…
Slow rotator galaxies are distinct amongst galaxy populations, with simulations suggesting that a mix of minor and major mergers are responsible for their formation. A promising path to resolve outstanding questions on the type of merger…
Our Universe is a vast, tantalizing enigma - a mystery that has aroused humankind's innate curiosity for eons. Begging questions on alien lifeforms have been thus far unfruitful, even with the bounding advancements we have embarked upon in…
Using the Fisher matrix formalism, we quantitatively investigate the constraints on a 10 dimensional space of cosmological parameters which may be obtained with future cluster surveys. We explore the dependence of the Omega_m constraint on…
I argue that Deutsch's model for the behavior of systems traveling around closed timelike curves (CTCs) relies implicitly on a substantive metaphysical assumption. Deutsch is employing a version of quantum theory with a significantly…
It is remarkable that the primordial fluctuations as revealed by the CMB coincide with what quantum fluctuations would look like if they were stretched across the sky by accelerated cosmic expansion. It has been observed that this same…
Artificial broadcasts from extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs) are a hypothetical class of celestial phenomena. Unlike known astrophysical objects, the societies that generate them may be able to replicate on galactic scales through…
We study diffuse gamma-ray emission at intermediate Galactic latitudes measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope with the aim of searching for a signal from dark matter annihilation or decay. In the absence of a robust dark matter signal,…
The Cosmic Shoreline concept was introduced as a way to separate planets with and without atmosphere, based on the relationship between the cumulative instellation and the escape velocity observed in the Solar System. The exoplanet…
The center of the Milky Way is offering one of the most striking mystery in Astroparticle Physics. An excess of gamma rays (GCE) has been measured by several groups in the data collected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) towards the…
The consequences are explored of an observationally established relation of the star formation rate (SFR) of star-forming galaxies with their stellar mass (M) and cosmic time (t), such that SFR is proportional to M x t^{-2.5}. It is shown,…