Studying the molecular phase of the interstellar medium in galaxies is fundamental for the understanding of the onset and evolution of star formation and the growth of supermassive black holes. We can use molecules as observational tools exploiting them as tracers of chemical, physical and dynamical conditions. In this short review, key molecules (e.g. HCN, HCO+, HNC, HC3N, CN, H3O+) in identifying the nature of buried activity and its evolution are discussed including some standard astrochemical scenarios. Furthermore, we can use IR excited molecular emission to probe the very inner regions of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) allowing us to get past the optically thick dust barrier of the compact obscured nuclei, e.g. in the dusty LIRG NGC4418. High resolution studies are often necessary to separate effects of excitation and radiative transport from those of chemistry - one example is absorption and effects of stimulated emission in the ULIRG Arp220. Finally, molecular gas in large scale galactic outflows is briefly discussed.

We examine to what extent the inferred surface temperature of magnetars in quiescence can constrain the presence of a superfluid in the neutron star core and the role of magnetic field decay in the core. By performing detailed simulations of neutron star cooling, we show that extremely strong heating from field decay in the core cannot produce the high observed surface temperatures nor delay the onset of neutron superfluidity in the core. We find that it is not possible to conclude that magnetar cores are in a non-superfluid state purely from high surface temperatures. We find that neutron superfluidity in the core occurs less than a few hundred years after neutron star formation for core fields < 1016 G. Thus all known neutron stars, including magnetars, without a core containing exotic particles, should have a core of superfluid neutrons and superconducting protons.

In this study we investigate the time variation of several solar activity, geomagnetic indices, and solar wind parameters (B, V). It is well known that solar wind is one of the main contributing factors to geomagnetic activity and his topology is strongly affect by solar events such as CMEs and coronals. For these two solar events, we study the correlation between PCI and BV during solar cycle phases and point out the close link between PCI and the occurring of CMEs and high wind speed flowing from coronal holes.

I present a brief review of the stellar population properties of massive galaxies, focusing on early-type galaxies in particular, with emphasis on recent results from the ATLAS3D Survey. I discuss the occurence of young stellar ages, cold gas, and ongoing star formation in early-type galaxies, the presence of which gives important clues to the evolutionary path of these galaxies. Consideration of empirical star formation histories gives a meaningful picture of galaxy stellar population properties, and allows accurate comparison of mass estimates from populations and dynamics. This has recently provided strong evidence of a non-universal IMF, as supported by other recent evidences. Spatially-resolved studies of stellar populations are also crucial to connect distinct components within galaxies to spatial structures seen in other wavelengths or parameters. Stellar populations in the faint outer envelopes of early-type galaxies are a formidable frontier for observers, but promise to put constraints on the ratio of accreted stellar mass versus that formed ‘in situ’ - a key feature of recent galaxy formation models. Galaxy environment appears to play a key role in controlling the stellar population properties of low mass galaxies. Simulations remind us, however, that current day galaxies are the product of a complex assembly and environment history, which gives rise to the trends we see. This has strong implications for our interpretation of environmental trends.

Geomagnetic and solar storms and their occurrence rate with respect to the solar activity cycle is an important topic of space environment research. The minimum of solar activity during the solar cycle number 23 (SC-23) have detectable effects on the space environments, where the monthly mean of sunspot number and solar proton events effecting the space environment and produced many of Geophysical effects. A detailed study of the centers of activity produced the proton events are carried out. The electromagnetic emissions at the different bands during the impulsive phase of the flare are tabulated and discussed. The different Geophysical effects due to the events are studied. Conclusions about the proton solar events at minimum activity are presented.

Characterization of exoplanet atmospheres with space-based infrared telescopes is important to detect biomarkers. A promising method is temporary differential observation. For this method, designs of a wideband infrared spectral disperser are presented. A design using a CdTe prism simultaneously covers λ=1–30 μm. Designing binary pupil masks for segmented pupils to be used in spatially resolved observations are also shown for another observational method.

The Homogeneous Study of Transiting Systems (HoSTS) will derive a consistent and homogeneous set of both the stellar and planetary physical properties for a large sample of bright transiting planetary systems with confirmed planetary masses and measured radii. Our resulting catalogs of the fundamental properties of these bright planets and their host stars will enable us to explore empirical correlations that will lead to a better understanding of planetary formation and evolution. We present our pilot study of the planet-hosting star WASP-13, and the framework of our project which will allow for the identification of true relationships among the physical properties of the systems from any systematics.

Given the fact that accretion discs are associated with their parent molecular cloud, we studied its effects as a constraint on the outer boundary of the viscous-resistive polytropic self-gravitating accretion flows subject to the mass and angular momentum loss.

Results from a large, multi-J CO, 13CO, and HCN line survey of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs: LIR≥ 1010 L⊙) in the local Universe (z≤0.1), complemented by CO J=4–3 up to J=13–12 observations from the Herschel Space Observatory (HSO), paints a new picture for the average conditions of the molecular gas of the most luminous of these galaxies with turbulence and/or large cosmic ray (CR) energy densities UCR rather than far-UV/optical photons from star-forming sites as the dominant heating sources. Especially in ULIRGs (LIR>1012 L⊙) the Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs) can encompass at most a few % of their molecular gas mass while the large UCR∼ 103 UCR, Galaxy, and the strong turbulence in these merger/starbursts, can volumetrically heat much of their molecular gas to Tkin∼ (100-200) K, unhindered by the high dust extinctions. Moreover the strong supersonic turbulence in ULIRGs relocates much of their molecular gas at much higher average densities (≥104 cm−3) than in isolated spirals (∼ 102–103 cm−3). This renders low-J CO lines incapable of constraining the properties of the bulk of the molecular gas in ULIRGs, with substantial and systematic underestimates of its mass possible when only such lines are used. Finally a comparative study of multi-J HCN lines and CO SLEDs from J=1–0 up to J=13–12 of NGC 6240 and Arp 193 offers a clear example of two merger/starbursts whose similar low-J CO SLEDs, and LIR/LCO,1−0 and LHCN, 1−0/LCO,1-0 ratios (proxies of the so-called SF efficiency and dense gas mass fraction), yield no indications about their strongly diverging CO SLEDs beyond J=4–3, and ultimately the different physical conditions in their molecular ISM. The much larger sensitivity of ALMA and its excellent site in the Atacama desert now allows the observations necessary to assess the dominant energy sources of the molecular gas and its mass in LIRGs without depending on the low-J CO lines.

The magnetic field evolution of active region NOAA 11059 is studied in order to determine the possible causes and mechanisms that led to the initiation of the 2010 April 3 coronal mass ejection (CME).

We find (1) that the magnetic configuration of the active region is unstable to the torus instability and (2) that persistent shearing motions characterized the negative polarity, resulting in a southward, almost parallel to the meridians, drift motion of the negative magnetic field concentrations.

We conclude that these shearing motions increased the axial field of the filament eventually bringing the flux rope axis to a height where the onset condition for the torus instability was satisfied.

The kinematics of photoevaporating disks and their associated ionized outflows around massive stars are fundamental to understand how these stars are formed and they evolve in their early phases of their evolution. To date, the important advances have been provided by studying the UC-HII region of MWC349A thanks to their strong maser emission at Hydrogen radio-recombination lines (RRLs). This B[e] star is one of the best prototypes of massive star with an ionized outflow expanding at nearly constant velocity. A 3D radiative transfer model applied to the H30α line has allowed to constrain the disk kinematics, which seems to follow pure Keplerian rotation in its outer parts. The model has also allowed us to constraints the launching radius of the outflow. Our results are supported by the agreement of our model predictions with the observations for other observed RRLs. Recent high-frequency observations of RRL masers with the Herschel Space Telescope (HIFI) show that the kinematics of the disk inner regions is not well understood. Modeling of these lines will constrain the formation of the ionized winds.

We suggest that neutron stars experienced at birth three related physical changes, which may originate in magneto-rotational instabilities: (i) an increase in period from the initial value P0 to the current value Ps, implying a change of rotational energy Δ Erot; (ii) an exponential decay of its magnetic field from the initial value B0 to the current surface value Bs, implying a change of radiative energy Δ Erad; and (iii) an increase of space velocity from the initial value v0 to the current value v, implying a change of kinetic energy Δ Ekin. These changes are assumed to be connected by Δ Erad + Δ Ekin = Δ Erot. This means that the radiation loss and increase of kinetic energy are both at the expense of a rotational energy loss. It is shown that this energy conversion occurs during times of order of 10−4 s if the neutron stars are born with magnetic fields in the range of 1015–1016 G and initial periods in range 1–20 ms. It is shown that the birth accelerations of neutron stars are of the order of 108g.

With the photospheric vector magnetic fields provided by SDO/HMI team, the helicity accumulation, induced electric field and Poynting flux is calculated for AR 11158 by using the local correlation tracking technique (LCT). It is found that the helicity accumulation reaches 6000×1040Mx2, the average densities of the induced electric field about 0.15-0.35 V cm−1, and that of the Poynting flux about 50-240 W m−2, within 50 hours. One main flare of X2.2 occurs in the increasing phase of the helicity accumulation, which also corresponds to the decreasing phase of the induced electric field and the gradual change phase of the Poynting flux. Before the flare, all these quantities increase rapidly for about 20 hours firstly, then increase gradually or even decrease for 8-9 hours.

The Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) project is an ongoing 3D spectroscopic survey of 600 nearby galaxies of all kinds. This pioneer survey is providing valuable clues on how galaxies form and evolve. Processed through spectral synthesis techniques, CALIFA datacubes allow us to, for the first time, spatially resolve the star formation history of galaxies spread across the color-magnitude diagram. The richness of this approach is already evident from the results obtained for the first ~ 1/6 of the sample. Here we show how the different galactic spatial sub-components (“bulge” and “disk”) grow their stellar mass over time. We explore the results stacking galaxies in mass bins, finding that, except at the lowest masses, galaxies grow inside-out, and that the growth rate depends on a galaxy's mass. The growth rate of inner and outer regions differ maximally at intermediate masses. We also find a good correlation between the age radial gradient and the stellar mass density, suggesting that the local density is a main driver of galaxy evolution.

We study relationships between the stellar populations and interstellar medium in massive galaxies using the Galex Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS). The sample consists of HI-observations (~1000 galaxies) and complementary H2-observations (330 galaxies) and long-slit spectroscopy (230 galaxies). Luminosity-weighted stellar population ages, metallicitites and element abundance ratios, are derived by fitting stellar population models of absorption line indices. We find that the ages correlate more strongly with molecular gas fraction (MH2/M*) than with neutral Hydrogen fraction (MHI/M*). This result strengthens the theory that H2 is a better tracer of star-formation than HI. The sample is dominated by negative metallicity-gradients and flat Mg/Fe-gradients. Galaxies with high MH2/M*-ratios show in general flat or weakly negative age-gradients. For low MH2/M*-ratios the age-gradients are overall negative. These results are in agreement with the inside-out galaxy formation scenario. For galaxies with high r90/r50-ratios, a sub-population show positive age-gradients indicating additional formation channels. Furthermore, for galaxies with high MH2/M*-ratios more massive systems have older stellar populations in their centers, suggesting downsizing within the inside-out formation scenario.

We report on XMM-Newton observations of the Galactic supernova remnant G296.7–0.9. A detailed spectro-imaging X-ray study of G296.7–0.9 was performed. We detected an incomplete shell-like X-ray structure which is located near the boundary of the radio emission at a frequency of 843 MHz. The X-ray spectrum can be best described by an absorbed ionization plasma model accompanied with metallic emission lines, which suggests the plasma is shock heated. No promising compact stellar remnant associated with G296.7–0.9 was found. No Gamma-ray emission of G296.7–0.9 from Fermi-LAT telescope was detected in our study.

A re-analysis of Gliese 667C HARPS precision radial velocity data was carried out with a Bayesian multi-planet Kepler periodogram (from 0 to 7 planets) based on a fusion Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. The most probable number of signals detected is six with a Bayesian false alarm probability of 0.012. The residuals were shown to be consistent with white noise. The six signals detected include two previously reported with periods of 7.198 (b) and 28.14 (c) days, plus additional periods of 30.82, 38.82, 53.22, and 91.3 days. The existence of these Keplerian-like signals suggest the possibility of additional planets in the habitable zone of Gl 667C although some of the signals could be artifacts arising from the sampling or stellar surface activity. N-body orbital integrations are being undertaken to determine which of these signals are consistent with a stable planetary system. Preliminary results demonstrate that four of the signals, with periods of 7.2, 28.1, 38.8, & 91 d, are consistent with a stable 4 planet system on time scales of 107 yr. The M sin i values are ~5.5, 4.4, 1.9, and 4.7 M⊕, respectively.

Line emissions of high- and low-density molecular tracers serve as powerful diagnostic tools for the ISM in both Galactic and extragalactic star formation environments. The emission line strengths and line ratios may be interpreted using detailed modeling of both the dominant physics and the chemistry of the molecular constituents. Observed molecular line ratios will thus reveal the signatures of dominant UV, X-ray, and CR radiation fields and of mechanical heating and feedback from the star formation process. In addition, certain line ratios reflect the physical and chemical changes resulting from the time-evolution of a star formation region. In this paper, we present results of Galactic sources and extragalactic starbursts covering a large range of FIR luminosities and illustrate the similarities between the diagnostics of these environments.