We present the first measurement of the planet frequency beyond the "snow line," for the planet-to-star mass-ratio interval −4.5 < log q < −2, corresponding to the range of ice giants to gas giants. We find d 2 N pl d log q d log s = (0.36 ± 0.15) dex −2 at the mean mass ratio q = 5 × 10 −4 with no discernible deviation from a flat (Öpik's law) distribution in logprojected separation s. The determination is based on a sample of six planets detected from intensive follow-up observations of high-magnification (A > 200) microlensing events during 2005-2008. The sampled host stars have a typical mass M host ∼ 0.5 M , and detection is sensitive to planets over a range of planet-star-projected separations (s −1 max R E , s max R E), where R E ∼ 3.5 AU (M host /M) 1/2 is the Einstein radius and s max ∼ (q/10 −4.3) 1/3. This corresponds to deprojected separations roughly three times the "snow line." We show that the observations of these events have the properties of a "controlled experiment," which is what permits measurement of absolute planet frequency. High-magnification events are rare, but the survey-plus-follow-up high-magnification channel is very efficient: half of all high-mag events were successfully monitored and half of these yielded planet detections. The extremely high sensitivity of high-mag events leads to a policy of monitoring them as intensively as possible, independent of whether they show evidence of planets. This is what allows us to construct an unbiased sample. The planet frequency derived from microlensing is a factor 8 larger than the one derived from Doppler studies at factor ∼25 smaller star-planet separations (i.e., periods 2-2000 days). However, this difference is basically consistent with the gradient derived from Doppler studies (when extrapolated well beyond the separations from which it is measured). This suggests a universal separation distribution across 2 dex in planet-star separation, 2 dex in mass ratio, and 0.3 dex in host mass. Finally, if all planetary systems were "analogs" of the solar system, our sample would have yielded 18.2 planets (11.4 "Jupiters," 6.4 "Saturns," 0.3 "Uranuses," 0.2 "Neptunes") including 6.1 systems with two or more planet detections. This compares to six planets including one twoplanet system in the actual sample, implying a first estimate of 1/6 for the frequency of solar-like systems.

As an alternative to dark matter models, MOdified Gravity (MOG) theory is a covariant modification of Einstein gravity. The theory introduces two additional scalar fields and one vector field. The aim is to explain the dynamics of astronomical systems based only on their baryonic matter. The effect of the vector field in the theory resembles a Lorentz force where each particle has a charge proportional to its inertial mass. The weak field approximation of MOG is derived by perturbing the metric and the fields around Minkowski space-time. We obtain an effective gravitational potential which yields the Newtonian attractive force plus a repulsive Yukawa force. This potential, in addition to the Newtonian gravitational constant, G N , has two additional constant parameters α and µ. We use the THe HI Nearby Galaxy Survey catalogue of galaxies and fix the two parameters α and µ of the theory to be α = 8.89 ± 0.34 and µ = 0.042 ± 0.004 kpc −1 . We then apply the effective potential with the fixed universal parameters to the Ursa-Major catalogue of galaxies and obtain good fits to galaxy rotation curve data with an average value of χ 2 = 1.07. In the fitting process, only the stellar mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of the galaxies is a free parameter. As predictions of MOG, our derived M/L is shown to be correlated with the colour of galaxies. We also fit the Tully-Fisher relation for galaxies. As an alternative to dark matter, introducing an effective weak field potential for MOG opens a new window to the astrophysical applications of the theory.

We use multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA), to See query 1 study sunspot number fluctuations. The result of the MF-DFA shows that there are three crossover timescales in the fluctuation function. We discuss how the existence of the crossover timescales is related to a sinusoidal trend. Using Fourier detrended fluctuation analysis, the sinusoidal trend is eliminated. The Hurst exponent of the time series without the sinusoidal trend is 0.12 ± 0.01. Also we find that these fluctuations have multifractal nature. Comparing the MF-DFA results for the remaining data set to those for shuffled and surrogate series, we conclude that its multifractal nature is almost entirely due to long range correlations.

We present high-precision photometry of two transit events of the extrasolar planetary system WASP-5, obtained with the Danish 1.54-m telescope at European Southern Obseratory La Silla.\ud In order to minimize both random and flat-fielding errors, we defocused the telescope so its point spread function approximated an annulus of diameter 40 pixel (16 arcsec). Data reduction was undertaken using standard aperture photometry plus an algorithm for optimally combining the ensemble of comparison stars. The resulting light curves have point-to-point scatters of 0.50 mmag for the first transit and 0.59 mmag for the second. We construct detailed signal to noise ratio calculations for defocused photometry, and apply them to our observations. We\ud model the light curves with the JKTEBOP code and combine the results with tabulated predictions from theoretical stellar evolutionary models to derive the physical properties of the WASP-5 system. We find that the planet has a mass of Mb = 1.637 ± 0.075 ± 0.033 MJup, a radius of Rb = 1.171 ± 0.056 ± 0.012 R Jup, a large surface gravity of gb = 29.6 ± 2.8ms−2 and a density of ρb = 1.02 ± 0.14 ± 0.01 ρJup (statistical and systematic uncertainties). The planet’s high equilibrium temperature of T eq = 1732 ± 80K makes it a good candidate for detecting secondary eclipses

We apply the weak field approximation limit of the covariant Scalar-Tensor-Vector Gravity (STVG) theory, so-called MOdified gravity (MOG), to the dynamics of clusters of galaxies by using only baryonic matter. The MOG effective gravitational potential in the weak field approximation is composed of an attractive Newtonian term and a repulsive Yukawa term with two parameters α and µ. The numerical values of these parameters have been obtained by fitting the predicted rotation curves of galaxies to observational data, yielding the best fit result: α = 8.89 ± 0.34 and µ = 0.042 ± 0.004 kpc −1 (Moffat & Rahvar 2013). We extend the observational test of this theory to clusters of galaxies, using data for the ionized gas and the temperature profile of nearby clusters obtained by the Chandra X-ray telescope. Using the MOG virial theorem for clusters, we compare the mass profiles of clusters from observation and theory for eleven clusters. The theoretical mass profiles for the inner parts of clusters exceed the observational data. However, the observational data for the inner parts of clusters (i.e., r < 0.1r 500 ) is scattered, but at distances larger than ∼ 300 kpc, the observed and predicted mass profiles converge. Our results indicate that MOG as a theory of modified gravity is compatible with the observational data from the the solar system to Mega parsec scales without invoking dark matter. c 0000 RAS

We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (t E ≃ 270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of 6 yr, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star’s apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of Earth’s motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 ± 1.3 M ⊙ and a distance of 1.58 ± 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ∼45 km s−1, suggesting that the BH received a “natal kick” from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique.

Aims. We report the discovery of a planet with a high planet-to-star mass ratio in the microlensing event MOA-2009-BLG-387, which exhibited pronounced deviations over a 12-day interval, one of the longest for any planetary event. The host is an M dwarf, with a mass in the range 0.07 M < M host < 0.49 M at 90% confidence. The planet-star mass ratio q = 0.0132 ± 0.003 has been measured extremely well, so at the best-estimated host mass, the planet mass is m p = 2.6 Jupiter masses for the median host mass, M = 0.19 M . Methods. The host mass is determined from two "higher order" microlensing parameters. One of these, the angular Einstein radius θ E = 0.31 ± 0.03 mas has been accurately measured, but the other (the microlens parallax π E , which is due to the Earth's orbital motion) is highly degenerate with the orbital motion of the planet. We statistically resolve the degeneracy between Earth and planet orbital effects by imposing priors from a Galactic model that specifies the positions and velocities of lenses and sources and a Kepler model of orbits. Results. The 90% confidence intervals for the distance, semi-major axis, and period of the planet are 3.5 kpc < D L < 7.9 kpc, 1.1 AU < a < 2.7 AU, and 3.8 yr < P < 7.6 yr, respectively.

A classical nonlocal generalization of Einstein's theory of gravitation has recently been developed via the introduction of a scalar causal "constitutive" kernel that must ultimately be determined from observational data. It turns out that the nonlocal aspect of gravity in this theory can simulate dark matter; indeed, in the Newtonian regime of nonlocal gravity, we recover the phenomenological Tohline-Kuhn approach to modified gravity. A simple generalization of the Kuhn kernel in the context of nonlocal general relativity leads to a two-parameter modified Newtonian force law that involves an additional repulsive Yukawa-type interaction. We determine the parameters of our nonlocal kernel by comparing the predictions of the theory with observational data regarding the rotation curves of spiral galaxies. The best-fitting stellar mass-to-light ratio turns out to be in agreement with astrophysical models; moreover, our results are consistent with the Tully-Fisher relation for spiral galaxies.Light deflection in nonlocal gravity is consistent with general relativity at Solar System scales, while beyond galactic scales an enhanced deflection angle is predicted that is compatible with lensing by the effective "dark matter". Furthermore, we extend our results to the internal dynamics of rich clusters of galaxies and show that 2 the dynamical mass of the cluster obtained from nonlocal gravity is consistent with the measured baryonic mass.