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Ziwei Ou

Publications and source records attributed to Ziwei Ou.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

When will T Coronae Borealis next erupt as a nova? Constraints from recurrence, orbital phase, and accretion-state evolution

T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is the nearest symbiotic recurrent nova and is now intensively monitored for its next eruption. We combine three constraints on the eruption time: historical recurrence, orbital phase, and recent accretion-state evolution. Conditioning on no eruption by 2026 July 11, the three effective historical intervals give illustrative survival-conditioned probabilities of 30.2\% for the rest of 2026 and 56.9\% within the following year; these are empirical indicators, not physical prediction probabilities. The four adopted historical eruption phases do not select a unique ignition phase, but form two loose pairs near $\phi\simeq0.44$ and $\phi\simeq0.62$, used here only as monitoring windows. The 1946 pre-eruption dip is difficult to explain by either a pure accretion-rate decline or standard dust extinction, and may have involved both accretion restructuring and source-dependent obscuration. If the renewed 2026 decline is the true pre-1946 analogue, an eruption around 2026 December remains plausible. Conversely, if post-2024 brightness remains below the 2014--2023 high state, an accretion-deficit estimate gives an earliest lower limit near 2029 May. The data therefore support conditional monitoring windows, not a unique date. These are conditional diagnostic scenarios rather than competing point predictions; the eventual eruption epoch will test their underlying assumptions.

astro-ph.HE

Lack of Significant Orbital-Phase Locking in the Active Phases of the Recurrent Nova T CrB

T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is a symbiotic recurrent nova (RN) that exhibits both nova eruptions and long-term active phases resembling superoutbursts and normal outbursts. Motivated by proposed connections between these events and the binary orbit, we test whether the onset, maximum, or termination of the active phases is locked to orbital phase. We use long-term optical $B$- and $V$-band light curves from the American Association of Variable Stars Observers (AAVSO) International Database and historical photometry from the literature. We measure the onset, maximum, and termination times of superoutbursts and normal outbursts and convert these times to orbital phase. We test the resulting circular distributions with Kuiper and Watson statistics. We find no statistically significant orbital-phase locking. The onset phases and maxima are consistent with a uniform phase distribution. The smallest probabilities occur for the 13 measurable termination phases ($p_{\rm MC}=0.043$ for the Kuiper statistic and $p_{\rm MC}=0.048$ for the Watson statistic), but this result is only marginal in an uncorrected $p<0.05$ sense, far from a $3\sigma$ detection, and insufficient to establish robust phase locking. The four historical nova eruptions likewise do not provide robust evidence for a unique ignition phase once the small sample size, historical date uncertainties, and long-term period changes are considered. The two known secondary eruptions occurred at similar phases, but two events are insufficient to establish an orbital-geometry connection. Overall, the active phases of T CrB appear to be governed primarily by accretion-disk physics rather than by a fixed binary phase.

astro-ph.HE

Diffuse gamma-ray emission in the vicinity of open cluster Berkeley 87

We report the detection of diffuse gamma-ray emission toward the young massive star cluster Berkeley 87 using Fermi data. The emission has an angular extension of 0.36 degree and a photon index of 2.68. The hadronic scenario is favored given the dense gas and the cluster's strong stellar winds.

astro-ph.HE

Diffuse gamma-ray emissions around the stellar cluster Berkeley 59

We report a detailed analysis on the young stellar cluster Berkeley 59 using Fermi-LAT. Using up-to-date source catalog and background models, we found significant extended GeV emission around Berkeley 59, which can be modeled by a radial disk of 1.02 degree radius with a significance of the extension of 10.6 sigma. We investigated the molecular, neutral and ionized gas content and the hadronic origin. The gamma-ray spectrum of Berkeley 59 has a photon index of 2.88. The derived gas mass from H2 and HII around Berkeley 59 is about 289 solar mass. We derived the relationship between cosmic ray acceleration efficiency and diffusion coefficient. Our results suggest that the extended gamma-ray emission originates from cosmic rays accelerated by cluster winds interacting with surrounding gas.

astro-ph.HE

4HWC J2029$+$3641: a Pulsar Wind Nebula Powered by PSR J2030$+$3641?

4HWC J2029+3641 is a newly discovered point source detected by HAWC, with no previously identified TeV counterpart. The gamma-ray pulsar PSR J2030+3641, located 0.1 degree from the source center, is a middle-aged pulsar showing spin parameters similar to Geminga. Using Fermni-LAT data spanning from August 2008 to February 2026, we performed binned maximum likelihood spectral analysis in the energy range from 300 MeV to 1 PeV. A phase-resolved analysis was conducted to separate the off-peak and on-peak emissions. No significant spatial extension was found for the off-peak component. The off-peak spectrum exhibits strong curvature and is best described by an exponentially cutoff power-law model. The observed radio-to-gamma phase lag and narrow peak separation favor an outer-gap model for the gamma-ray emission.

astro-ph.HE

Diffuse Gamma-ray Emission Around 4FGL J1626.0-4917

Extended gamma-ray sources provide significant information about particle propagation. 4FGL J1626.0-4917 was labeled as an unassociated source in 4FGL catalog without known counterparts at other wavelengths. We report an analysis on 4FGL J1626.0-4917 with 17 years Fermi Large Area Telescope data and archival Chandra X-ray Observatory data. We find extended GeV emission around this source, which can be modelled by a Gaussian disk of 0.28 degree radius with a significance of the extension of 7.2 sigma. The gamma-ray spectrum of 4FGL J1626.0-4917 has a photon index of 2.73. The gas content, including molecular, neutral and ionized gas, was investigated and the potential hadronic origin is discussed. The diffuse GeV gamma-ray emission may likely originate from the interaction between accelerated protons in 4FGL J1626.0-4917 and the target proton in surrounding gas, although the leptonic process cannot be ruled out. The X-ray spectral analysis was performed, which reveal a point source inside 4FGL J1626.0-4917. We investigate potential counterparts, including the stellar cluster NGC 6134 and the supernova remnant G335.2+0.1. Our results highlight the complexity of unidentified extended gamma-ray sources and the need for further observations.

astro-ph.HE

Point-like Off-pulse GeV Emission from the Millisecond Pulsar PSR J0437-4715

PSR J0437-4715 is a gamma-ray millisecond pulsar, which has been detected by Fermi-LAT. For understanding the nature, we analyze the GeV gamma-ray data obtained with Fermi-LAT around the pulsar region. Based on the pulsar timing ephemeris, we derived the gamma-ray pulse profile and defined on-pulse and off-pulse phase intervals. A binned likelihood analysis was performed to investigate the spectral properties of the pulsar across different phase ranges. No spatial extension was detected for off-pulse, with an upper limit radius of 0.12 degree. We further investigate the relationship between gamma-ray luminosity, X-ray luminosity, and bow-shock radius for a sample of pulsars with detected bow-shock PWN. The relationship between gamma-ray luminosity and X-ray luminosity is explored. The conversion efficiency from spin-down power to GeV emission of outer gap model is consistent with a termination shock located close to the pulsar. We discuss the potential nature of off-pulse GeV emission and the connection to bow shock pulsar wind nebulae.

astro-ph.HE

Qianfan-OCR: A Unified End-to-End Model for Document Intelligence

We present Qianfan-OCR, a 4B-parameter end-to-end vision-language model that unifies document parsing, layout analysis, and document understanding within a single architecture. It performs direct image-to-Markdown conversion and supports diverse prompt-driven tasks including table extraction, chart understanding, document QA, and key information extraction. To address the loss of explicit layout analysis in end-to-end OCR, we propose Layout-as-Thought, an optional thinking phase triggered by special think tokens that generates structured layout representations -- bounding boxes, element types, and reading order -- before producing final outputs, recovering layout grounding capabilities while improving accuracy on complex layouts. Qianfan-OCR ranks first among end-to-end models on OmniDocBench v1.5 (93.12) and OlmOCR Bench (79.8), achieves competitive results on OCRBench, CCOCR, DocVQA, and ChartQA against general VLMs of comparable scale, and attains the highest average score on public key information extraction benchmarks, surpassing Gemini-3.1-Pro, Seed-2.0, and Qwen3-VL-235B. The model is publicly accessible via the Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan platform.

cs.CV

Multi-wavelength study of the pre-eruption dip in the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis preceding imminent nova eruption

We present a multi-wavelength study of the symbiotic recurrent nova (RN) T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) using Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) / X-Ray Telescope (XRT) / UltraViolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) and American Association of Variable Stars Observers (AAVSO) observations from 2005 to 2025. Our analysis spans quiescent, high, and pre-eruption dip states. We find that brightening amplitudes increase toward shorter wavelengths in both optical and UV bands, while the UV and X-ray fluxes are generally anti-correlated throughout all phases. During the 2023-2024 pre-eruption dip, soft and hard X-rays increased as optical and ultraviolet (UV) brightness declined, consistent with a transition from an optically thick to thin boundary layer driven by a reduction in the accretion rate. We also report, for the first time, a second, lower-amplitude dip occurring between September 2024 and February 2025 following the primary 2023-2024 pre-eruption dip. The observed variability supports an accretion-variation scenario as a unifying explanation for both the high and dip states, and may signal an imminent nova eruption.

astro-ph.HE

Temporal variability and obscuration effects in the X-ray emission of classical nova V339 Delphini (Nova Delphini 2013)

In this study, we present a detailed analysis of public archival soft X-ray data on the classical nova V339 Delphini (Nova Del 2013) during its outburst, obtained using the {\it Chandra} High-Resolution Camera Spectrometer (HRC-S) and Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG), as well as {\it XMM-Newton} in 2013. The observations, spanning from day 85.2 to day 112.0 after the optical maximum, capture the nova during its luminous supersoft X-ray source (SSS) phase. The spectra reveal numerous absorption features with blue-shifted velocities ranging from $\sim$ 724 to $\sim$ 1474 km s$^{-1}$, with the majority of lines blue-shifted by approximately 1200 km s$^{-1}$. We confirm the presence of a short-period modulation of the X-ray flux with a period of approximately 54 seconds, as well as the drift of this period, which was detected on days 97.0 and 112.0 during the outburst with both {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it Chandra}. This period modulation is transient in nature, with significant variations in amplitude and pulse profile over timescales of a few thousand seconds, likely due to temporary obscuration events that affect the emission from the central hot source. The pulse profiles exhibit substantial deviations from a pure sinusoidal shape, which may be related to the period drift. Additionally, the modulation amplitude shows a possible anti-correlation with the count rates on day 97.0, likely also caused by temporary obscuration events influencing the central source's emission.

astro-ph.HE

Timing and spectral analysis of GK Persei during the 2010 dwarf nova outburst

GK Persei, an old nova and intermediate polar (IP), exhibited a dwarf nova (DN) outburst in 2010. This outburst was extensively observed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, beginning 1.95 days after the eruption and continuing until 13.9 days before the maximum of the outburst in the optical. In this paper, we present timing and spectral analyses, comparing the results with those of other outbursts. We confirm the spin modulation in the 2 $-$ 10 keV X-ray range with a period of $P_{\rm WD} = 351.325(9)$ s. Additionally, we detected spin modulation in the 0.3 $-$ 2 keV band during the second half of the observations, a feature not seen in the 2015 and 2018 outbursts. This finding suggests that the soft X-ray emission in GK Per may originate partly near the magnetic poles and partly from a wind or circumstellar material.

astro-ph.HE

High resolution X-ray spectra of the compact binary supersoft X-ray source CAL 87

In this study, we present an analysis of the archival X-ray data of the eclipsing supersoft X-ray binary CAL 87 observed with the {\it Chandra} Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) camera and Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) in 2001 August and with {\it XMM-Newton} in 2003 April. The high resolution X-ray spectra are almost unchanged in the two different dates. The average unabsorbed X-ray luminosity during the exposure was 4.64$-$5.46$\times10^{36}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ in 2001 and 4.54$-$4.82 $\times10^{36}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ in 2003, with prominent and red-shifted emission lines, mostly of nitrogen, oxygen, iron and argon, contributing to at least 30\% of the X-ray flux. The continuum X-ray flux is at least an order of magnitude too small for a hot, hydrogen burning WD. However, the continuum flux is consistent with Thomson-scattering reflecting about 5\% of the light of a hydrogen burning WD with effective temperature of 800,000 K, and a mass of $\sim$ 1.2 M$_\odot$. It has been noted before that a large Thomson-scattering corona explains the X-ray eclipse of CAL 87, in which the eclipsed region is found to be of size the order of a solar radius. The emission lines originate in an even more extended region, beyond the eclipsed central X-ray source; the emission spectrum is very complex, with unusual line ratios.

astro-ph.HE

The core starbursts of the galaxy NGC 3628: Radio very long baseline interferometry and X-ray studies

We present radio very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) and X-ray studies of the starburst galaxy NGC 3628. The VLBI observation at 1.5 GHz reveals seven compact (0.7$-$7 parsec) radio sources in the central $\sim$250 parsec region of NGC 3628. Based on their morphology, high radio brightness temperatures ($10^5-10^7$ K), and steep radio spectra, none of these seven sources can be associated with active galactic nuclei (AGNs); instead, they can be identified as supernova remnants (SNRs), with three of them appearing consistent with partial shells. Notably, one of them (W2) is likely a nascent radio supernova and appears to be consistent with the star formation rate of NGC 3628 when assuming a canonical initial mass function. The VLBI observation provides the first precise measurement of the diameter of the radio sources in NGC 3628, which allow us to fit a well-constrained radio surface brightness - diameter ($Σ-D$) correlation by including the detected SNRs. Furthermore, future VLBI observations can be conducted to measure the expansion velocity of the detected SNRs. In addition to our radio VLBI study, we analyze Chandra and XMM-Newton spectra of NGC 3628. The spectral fitting indicates that the SNR activities could well account for the observed X-ray emissions. Along with the Chandra X-ray image, it further reveals that the X-ray emission is likely maintained by the galactic-scale outflow triggered by SN activities. These results provide strong evidence that SN-triggered activities play a critical role in generating both radio and X-ray emissions in NGC 3628 and further suggest that the galaxy NGC 3628 is in an early stage of starbursts.

astro-ph.GA

Multiwavelength Analysis of Galactic Supernova Remnants

The origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays (CRs) and the possibility of Supernova Remnants (SNRs) being potential CR accelerators is still an open debate. The charged CRs can be detected indirectly by the γ-ray observatories through the {π^0} production and consequent decay, leading to the generation of high-energy γ-rays. The goal of the study is to identify qualitative and quantitative trends in favour of hadronic scenario and search for SNRs which could be potential accelerators up to PeV energies (PeVatrons). We have performed a Multiwavelength (MWL) study using different radiative models to evaluate the hadronic contribution. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of selected SNRs are modeled using the Naima [1] package. Two different radiative scenarios are considered, pure leptonic and lepto-hadronic scenarios, and different methods are used to evaluate their importance. This study shows that the lepto-hadronic scenario is favored for most SNRs. Two particular indicators of hadronic contribution come from the data around the {π^0} production threshold and the data above a few TeV. The hard rise at the {π^0} production threshold cannot be explained by leptonic processes. More data in this region would be valuable for these studies. For some SNRs, an important hadronic contribution is observed up to a few TeV, thus making them promising PeVatron candidates. In this high-energy region where the leptonic processes are expected to be suppressed, more data is required to help distinguish between the leptonic and hadronic origin of γ-ray emission. In the future, we intend to use the obtained model parameters to simulate data for CTA and assess its capability to identify PeVatrons.

astro-ph.HE