By fitting the bolometric light curves of 31 super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) with the magnetar engine model, we derive the ejecta masses and magnetar parameters for these SLSNe. The lower boundary of magnetic field strengths of SLSN magnetars can be set just around the critical field strength B c of electron Landau quantization. In more details, SLSN magnetars can further be divided into two subclasses of magnetic fields of ∼ (1 − 5)B c and ∼ (5 − 10)B c , respectively. It is revealed that these two subclasses of magnetars are just associated with the slow-evolving and fast-evolving bolometric light curves of SLSNe. In comparison, the magnetars harbored in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and associated hypernovae are usually inferred to have much higher magnetic fields with a lower boundary about ∼ 10B c . This robustly suggests that it is the magnetic fields that play the crucial role in distinguishing SLSNe from GRBs/hypernovae. The rotational energy of SLSN magnetars are found to be correlated with the masses of supernova ejecta, which provides a clue to explore the nature of their progenitors. Moreover, the distribution of ejecta masses of SLSNe is basically intermediate between those of normal core-collapse supernovae and hypernovae. This could indicate an intrinsic connection among these different stellar explosions.

We present results from the first directed search for nontensorial gravitational waves. While general relativity allows for tensorial (plus and cross) modes only, a generic metric theory may, in principle, predict waves with up to six different polarizations. This analysis is sensitive to continuous signals of scalar, vector, or tensor polarizations, and does not rely on any specific theory of gravity. After searching data from the first observation run of the advanced LIGO detectors for signals at twice the rotational frequency of 200 known pulsars, we find no evidence of gravitational waves of any polarization. We report the first upper limits for scalar and vector strains, finding values comparable in magnitude to previously published limits for tensor strain. Our results may be translated into constraints on specific alternative theories of gravity.

Deregulation eliminates the boundary of the territory of the monopoly power industry. Competition forces utilities to improve power quality as well as to reduce investment and operation costs. Feeder imbalance describes a situation in which the voltages of a three-phase voltage source are not identical in magnitude, or the phase differences between them are not 120 electrical degrees, or both. It affects motors and other devices that depend upon a wellbalanced three-phase voltage source. Phase balancing is to make the voltages balanced at each load point of the feeder. Phase swapping is a direct approach for phase balancing with the minimum cost. Phase balancing can enhance utilities' There are two approaches for phase balancing. One is feeder reconfiguration at the system level; the other is phase swapping at the feeder level. Feeder reconfiguration has been extensively studied in the past several decades while phase swapping has been ignored. Since feeder reconfiguration is primarily designed for load balancing among the feeders, most researchers do not consider phase balancing as an objective in feeder reconfiguration. Only a few people incorporated phase balancing into feeder reconfiguration approaches based on the unbalanced feeder systems[3-6]. But they realized that feeder reconfiguration has limitation to reach phase balancing [3-6]. competitive capability by improving reliability, quality, and reducing costs. Therefore, phase balancing optimization is nowadays receiving more attention in the power industry, especially in today's deregulating environments. The nonlinear effects, such as, voltage drops and energy losses, make the problem difficult to solve. This paper introduces Simulated Annealing as an effective method to solve a power distribution phase balancing problem with its non-linear rffert. _.._I.".

Neutron star mergers are believed to occur in accretion disks around supermassive black holes. Here we show that a putative jet launched from the merger of a binary neutron star (BNS) or a neutron star–black hole (NSBH) merger occurring at the migration trap in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) disk would be choked. The jet energy is deposited within the disk materials to power a hot cocoon. The cocoon is energetic enough to break out from the AGN disk and produce a bright X-ray shock breakout transient peaking at ∼0.15 days after the merger. The peak luminosity is estimated as , which can be discovered by the Einstein Probe from . Later on, the nonrelativistic ejecta launched from the merger would break out the disk, powering an X-ray/UV flare peaking at ∼0.5 days after the merger. This second shock breakout signal may be detected by UV transient searches. The cocoon cooling emission and kilonova emission are outshone by the disk emission and are difficult to detect. Future joint observations of gravitational waves from BNS/NSBH mergers and associated two shock breakout signatures can provide strong support for the compact binary coalescence formation channel in AGN disks.

When the magnetosphere of a magnetar is perturbed by crustal deformation, an electric field E ∥ parallel to the magnetic field line would appear via Alfvén waves in the charge starvation region. The electron–positron pair bunches will be generated via two-stream instability in the magnetosphere, and these pairs will undergo charge separation in the E ∥ and in the meantime emit coherent curvature radiation. Following the approach of Yang & Zhang, we find that the superposed curvature radiation becomes narrower due to charge separation, with the width of spectrum depending on the separation between the electron and positron clumps. This mechanism can interpret the narrow spectra of fast radio bursts (FRBs), in particular, the spectrum of Galactic FRB 200428 recently detected in association with a hard X-ray burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154.