Physical Sciences / Astronomy -- New results matching your topic search. https://www.pnas.org/action/doSearch?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Astronomy Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences en-US http://www.atypon.com/images/atypon_logo_small.gif http://www.atypon.com https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2608698123?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 14, April 2026. <br/> Lone black holes promise fresh insights into the fates of massive stars doi:10.1073/pnas.2608698123 2026-04-01T07:00:00Z Ken Croswell Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 14 2026-04-07T07:00:00Z 2026-04-07T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2608698123 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2608698123?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2534122123?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 13, March 2026. <br/>SignificanceTurbulence is a fundamental process in a wide range of natural and laboratory systems. Experiments and observations often measure projected images of tracers in turbulent flows. Because the underlying structures are fractal, such observations ... Using wavelet decomposition to determine the dimension of structures from projected images doi:10.1073/pnas.2534122123 2026-03-23T07:00:00Z Svitlana MayborodaDavid N. SpergelaDepartment of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, Zürich 8092, SwitzerlandbFlatiron Institute, New York, NY 10011 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 13 2026-03-31T07:00:00Z 2026-03-31T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2534122123 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2534122123?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2524764123?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 9, March 2026. <br/>SignificanceGiant planets and brown dwarfs represent crucial transition objects between planets and stars, yet their formation mechanisms remain uncertain. Using a sample of 55 companions detected through combined radial velocity and astrometry, we ... A universal brown dwarf desert formed between planets and stars doi:10.1073/pnas.2524764123 2026-02-17T08:00:00Z Kaiming CuiGuang-Yao XiaoFabo FengBeibei LiuSergei NayakshinCassandra HallKangrou GuoDong LaiMasahiro OgiharaYicheng RuiAlan P. BossR. Paul ButlerYifan XuanaTsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, People’s Republic of ChinabDepartment of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United KingdomcCentre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United KingdomdSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of ChinaeInstitute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of ChinafCenter for Cosmology and Computational Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study in Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People’s Republic of ChinagSchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United KingdomhDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602iCenter for Simulational Physics, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602jDepartment of Astronomy, Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853kEarth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 9 2026-03-03T08:00:00Z 2026-03-03T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2524764123 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2524764123?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2514657123?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/> Democratizing space: India’s frugal space innovation provides key lessons for emerging nations doi:10.1073/pnas.2514657123 2026-02-18T08:00:00Z Luisa CorradoSoniya Gupta-RawalPaul KattumanJaideep PrabhuaDepartment of Economics and Finance, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, ItalybJudge Business School, University of Cambridge, CB2 1AG Cambridge, United Kingdom Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 8 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2514657123 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2514657123?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2526436123?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/>The current cosmological paradigm, ΛCDM, is characterized by its expansive description of the history of the Universe, its deep connections to particle physics and the large quantities of data that support it. Nonetheless, ΛCDM’s critics argue that it has ... Everyone wants something better than ΛCDM doi:10.1073/pnas.2526436123 2026-02-13T08:00:00Z Michael S. TurneraDepartments of Astronomy and Astrophysics and of Physics, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1433bDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 8 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2526436123 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2526436123?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2519811122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 1, January 2026. <br/>SignificanceThis research explores how magnetic field and plasma density in the solar wind are autocorrelated across timescales from minutes to years, characterized by correlation functions. The correlation function has a one-to-one correspondence with ... Interplanetary magnetic correlation and low-frequency spectrum over many solar rotations doi:10.1073/pnas.2519811122 2026-01-02T08:00:00Z Jiaming WangFrancesco PecoraRohit ChhiberSohom RoyWilliam H. MatthaeusaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19816bHeliophysics Science Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 1 2026-01-06T08:00:00Z 2026-01-06T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2519811122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2519811122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2512461122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 49, December 2025. <br/>SignificanceSamples of asteroid Bennu obtained by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission preserve a record of the chemical evolution of the early Solar System. The organic compounds detected in laboratory analyses of these samples include various building blocks of ... Prebiotic organic compounds in samples of asteroid Bennu indicate heterogeneous aqueous alteration doi:10.1073/pnas.2512461122 2025-11-24T08:00:00Z Angel MojarroJosé C. AponteJason P. DworkinJamie E. ElsilaDaniel P. GlavinHarold C. ConnollyDante S. LaurettaaNational Aeronautics and Space Administration Postdoctoral Program, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN 37830bSolar System Exploration Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771cLunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721dDepartment of Geology, School of Earth and Environment, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028eDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 49 2025-12-09T08:00:00Z 2025-12-09T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2512461122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2512461122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513365122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 45, November 2025. <br/>SignificanceIn this work, a dense beam of electron–positron pairs is produced using protons accelerated by the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN. The beam is propagated through an ambient plasma, analogous to pair cascades produced as blazar jets propagate ... Suppression of pair beam instabilities in a laboratory analogue of blazar pair cascades doi:10.1073/pnas.2513365122 2025-11-07T08:00:00Z Charles D. ArrowsmithFrancesco MiniatiPablo J. BilbaoPascal SimonArchie F. A. BottStephane BurgerHui ChenFilipe D. CruzTristan DavenneAnthony DysonIlias EfthymiopoulosDustin H. FroulaAlice GoillotJon T. GudmundssonDan HaberbergerJack W. D. HallidayTom HodgeBrian T. HuffmanSam IaquintaG. MarshallBrian RevilleSubir SarkarAlexander A. SchekochihinLuis O. SilvaRaspberry SimpsonVasiliki StergiouRaoul M. G. M. TrinesThibault VieuNikolaos CharitonidisRobert BinghamGianluca GregoriaDepartment of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United KingdombUniversity of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester, NY 14623cGoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa 1049-001, PortugaldEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva 23 CH-1211, SwitzerlandeGSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt 64291, GermanyfLawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550gScience and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, United KingdomhScience Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavik IS-107, IcelandiDivision of Space and Plasma Physics, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm SE-100 44, SwedenjAWE Nuclear Security Technologies, Aldermaston, Reading, Berkshire RG7 4PR, United KingdomkMax-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg D-69117, GermanylSchool of Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Athens 157 72, GreecemDepartment of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 45 2025-11-11T08:00:00Z 2025-11-11T08:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2513365122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513365122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513927122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 41, October 2025. <br/>SignificanceWe propose a data-driven null signal template (NST) method to reliably estimate the statistical significance of exoplanet transit candidates in the presence of unknown sources of signal contamination. NST accounts for all possible systematics ... Reassessment of Kepler’s habitable zone Earth-like exoplanets with data-driven null signal templates doi:10.1073/pnas.2513927122 2025-10-07T07:00:00Z Jakob RobnikUroš SeljakaDepartment of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720bLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 93720 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 41 2025-10-14T07:00:00Z 2025-10-14T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2513927122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513927122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513193122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 40, October 2025. <br/>SignificanceIn 2007 Spolyar, Freese, and Gondolo proposed the idea of Dark Stars (DSs). Some of the first stars in the Universe might have been powered by Dark Matter (DM annihilations rather than nuclear fusion. They could form out of pristine Hydrogen ... Spectroscopic Supermassive Dark Star candidates doi:10.1073/pnas.2513193122 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z Cosmin IlieSayed Shafaat MahmudJillian PaulinKatherine FreeseaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346bDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396cWeinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Department of Physics, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712dDepartment of Physics, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, SwedeneNordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 40 2025-10-07T07:00:00Z 2025-10-07T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2513193122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2513193122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416189122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/>Although nearly 6,000 exoplanets are currently known, in most cases, our knowledge is limited to a handful of the planet’s orbital characteristics and bulk properties such as radius and mass. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can expand our knowledge ... Exploring exoplanet dynamics with JWST: Tides, rotation, rings, and moons doi:10.1073/pnas.2416189122 2025-09-22T07:00:00Z Sarah C. MillhollandJoshua N. WinnaDepartment of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139bKavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139cDepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2416189122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416189122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416190122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/>SignificanceRocky planets are very common around other stars, with tens of billions predicted to exist in our Galaxy alone. Until recently, however, it was not possible to characterize these planets in detail, or learn about their atmospheric properties. ... A first look at rocky exoplanets with JWST doi:10.1073/pnas.2416190122 2025-09-22T07:00:00Z Laura KreidbergKevin B. StevensonaMax Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg 69117, GermanybJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723cConsortium on Habitability and Atmospheres of M-dwarf Planets, Laurel, MD 20723 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2416190122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416190122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416193122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/>SignificanceOver the past three decades, exoplanet research has progressed from planet discovery to detecting molecules in exoplanet atmospheres and identifying population-level trends that inform hypotheses about planet formation. Hot gas giants around ... A precise metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio for a warm giant exoplanet from its panchromatic JWST emission spectrum doi:10.1073/pnas.2416193122 2025-09-22T07:00:00Z Lindsey S. WiserTaylor J. BellMichael R. LineEverett SchlawinThomas G. BeattyLuis WelbanksThomas P. GreeneVivien ParmentierMatthew M. MurphyJonathan J. FortneyKenny ArnoldNishil MehtaKazumasa OhnoSagnick MukherjeeaSchool of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287bBay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035cSpace Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035dAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy for the European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218eDepartment of Astronomy, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721fDepartment of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706gLaboratoire Lagrange, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice 06300, FrancehDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064iDivision of Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2416193122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416193122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416194122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/>SignificanceSub-Neptune planets dominate the exoplanet population but have no analogues in the solar system. Sized between Earth and Neptune, the nature of such planets remains uncertain, spanning rocky gas dwarfs, mini-Neptunes, and water worlds, with ... Exploring the sub-Neptune frontier with JWST doi:10.1073/pnas.2416194122 2025-09-22T07:00:00Z Nikku MadhusudhanMåns HolmbergSavvas ConstantinouGregory J. CookeaInstitute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA, United KingdombSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2416194122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2416194122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2507109122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/> Characterization of exoplanets in the James Webb Space Telescope era doi:10.1073/pnas.2507109122 2025-09-22T07:00:00Z Jonathan I. LunineNeta Bahcall a Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 b Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 c Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2507109122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2507109122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2524499122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 39, September 2025. <br/> Could dark energy be changing over time? doi:10.1073/pnas.2524499122 2025-09-24T07:00:00Z Adam Mann Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 39 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 2025-09-30T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2524499122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2524499122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2506790122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 34, August 2025. <br/>SignificancePowerful radio jets released by accreting supermassive black holes are a significant source of magnetic energy in the Universe. By cosmic noon (redshift 2 to 3), the jet-inflated radio lobes extend beyond their host galaxies and inject a ... Reduced gas accretion onto galaxies due to effects of external giant radio lobes doi:10.1073/pnas.2506790122 2025-08-21T07:00:00Z Yu QiuRenyue CenaCenter for Cosmology and Computational Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study in Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, ChinabInstitute of Astronomy, School of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 34 2025-08-26T07:00:00Z 2025-08-26T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2506790122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2506790122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2425520122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 33, August 2025. <br/>SignificanceThe search for habitable exoplanets has intensified with new telescopes and a growing number of exoplanets. Yet, many known exoplanets are too warm for surface liquid water and therefore considered inhospitable to life. Liquid is a fundamental ... Warm, water-depleted rocky exoplanets with surface ionic liquids: A proposed class for planetary habitability doi:10.1073/pnas.2425520122 2025-08-11T07:00:00Z Rachana AgrawalSara SeagerIaroslav IakubivskyiWeston P. BuchananAna GliddenMaxwell D. SeagerWilliam BainsJingcheng HuangJanusz J. PetkowskiaDepartment of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139bDepartment of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139cDepartment of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139dKavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139eTartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Tõravere 61602, EstoniafDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609gSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, United KingdomhFaculty of Environmental Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw 50-370, PolandiJJ Scientific Mazowieckie, Warsaw 02-792, Polan Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 33 2025-08-19T07:00:00Z 2025-08-19T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2425520122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2425520122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2405295122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 11, March 2025. <br/>SignificanceThe eccentricity (ellipticity) of a planet’s orbit is a relic of its formation history. We measured eccentricities of 1,646 planets with sizes ranging from 0.5 to 16 Earth-radii (R⊕). On average, large planets (4 to 16R⊕) are four times more ... Planets larger than Neptune have elevated eccentricities doi:10.1073/pnas.2405295122 2025-03-03T08:00:00Z Gregory J. GilbertErik A. PetiguraPaige M. EntricanaUniversity of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 11 2025-03-18T07:00:00Z 2025-03-18T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2405295122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2405295122?af=R https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2419073122?af=R Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 11, March 2025. <br/>SignificanceIt is generally believed that nonlinear Landau damping can only be captured by kinetic plasma models evolving phase space dynamics. Yet, these models are notably computation-intensive, creating a significant challenge for scaling both in space ... Machine-learning heat flux closure for multi-moment fluid modeling of nonlinear Landau damping doi:10.1073/pnas.2419073122 2025-03-12T07:00:00Z Ziyu HuangChuanfei DongLiang WangaDepartment of Astronomy, Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 11 2025-03-18T07:00:00Z 2025-03-18T07:00:00Z 10.1073/pnas.2419073122 https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2419073122?af=R