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Blazars are active galactic nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets whose non-thermal radiation is extremely variable on various timescales 1-3 . This variability seems mostly random, although some quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), implying systematic processes, have been reported in blazars and other AGN. QPOs with timescales of days or hours are especially rare 4 in AGN and their nature is highly debated, explained by emitting plasma moving helically inside the jet 5 , plasma instabilities 6,7 or orbital motion in an accretion disc 7,8 . Here we report results of intense optical and γ-ray flux monitoring of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) during a dramatic outburst in 2020 (ref.  9 ). BL Lac, the prototype of a subclass of blazars 10 , is powered by a 1.7 × 10 8  M Sun (ref.  11 ) black hole in an elliptical galaxy (distance = 313 megaparsecs (ref.  12 )). Our observations show QPOs of optical flux and linear polarization, and γ-ray flux, with cycles as short as approximately 13 h during the highest state of the outburst. The QPO properties match the expectations of current-driven kink instabilities 6 near a recollimation shock about 5 parsecs (pc) from the black hole in the wake of an apparent superluminal feature moving down the jet. Such a kink is apparent in a microwave Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) image., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

The amount of ultraviolet irradiation and ablation experienced by a planet depends strongly on the temperature of its host star. Of the thousands of extrasolar planets now known, only six have been found that transit hot, A-type stars (with temperatures of 7,300-10,000 kelvin), and no planets are known to transit the even hotter B-type stars. For example, WASP-33 is an A-type star with a temperature of about 7,430 kelvin, which hosts the hottest known transiting planet, WASP-33b (ref. 1); the planet is itself as hot as a red dwarf star of type M (ref. 2). WASP-33b displays a large heat differential between its dayside and nightside, and is highly inflated-traits that have been linked to high insolation. However, even at the temperature of its dayside, its atmosphere probably resembles the molecule-dominated atmospheres of other planets and, given the level of ultraviolet irradiation it experiences, its atmosphere is unlikely to be substantially ablated over the lifetime of its star. Here we report observations of the bright star HD 195689 (also known as KELT-9), which reveal a close-in (orbital period of about 1.48 days) transiting giant planet, KELT-9b. At approximately 10,170 kelvin, the host star is at the dividing line between stars of type A and B, and we measure the dayside temperature of KELT-9b to be about 4,600 kelvin. This is as hot as stars of stellar type K4 (ref. 5). The molecules in K stars are entirely dissociated, and so the primary sources of opacity in the dayside atmosphere of KELT-9b are probably atomic metals. Furthermore, KELT-9b receives 700 times more extreme-ultraviolet radiation (that is, with wavelengths shorter than 91.2 nanometres) than WASP-33b, leading to a predicted range of mass-loss rates that could leave the planet largely stripped of its envelope during the main-sequence lifetime of the host star.

Scan statistics are used in public health applications to detect increases in rates or clusters of disease indicated by an unusually large number of events. Most of the work has been for the retrospective case, in which a single set of historical data is to be analyzed. A modification of this retrospective scan statistic has been recommended for use when incidences of an event are recorded as they occur over time (prospectively) to determine whether the underlying incidence rate has increased, preferably as soon as possible after such an increase. In this paper, we investigate the properties of the scan statistic when used in prospective surveillance of the incidence rate under the assumption of independent Bernoulli observations. We show how to evaluate the expected number of Bernoulli observations needed to generate a signal that the incidence rate has increased. We compare the performance of the prospective scan statistic method with that obtained using the Bernoulli-based cumulative sum (CUSUM) technique. We show that the latter tends to be more effective in detecting sustained increases in the rate, but the scan method may be preferred in some applications due to its simplicity and can be used with relatively little loss of efficiency.