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HO Puppis (HO Pup) was considered as a Be-star candidate based on its gamma-Cassiopeiae-type light curve, but lacked spectroscopic confirmation. Using distance measured from Gaia Data Release 2 and the spectral-energy-distribution (SED) fit on broadband photometry, the Be-star nature of HO Pup is ruled out. Furthermore, based on the 28,700 photometric data points collected from various time-domain surveys and dedicated intensive-monitoring observations, the light curves of HO Pup closely resemble IW And-type stars (as pointed out in Kimura et al. 2020a), exhibiting characteristics such as quasi-standstill phase, brightening, and dips. The light curve of HO Pup displays various variability timescales, including brightening cycles ranging from 23 to 61 days, variations with periods between 3.9 days and 50 minutes during the quasi-standstill phase, and a semi-regular ~14-day period for the dip events. We have also collected time-series spectra (with various spectral resolutions), in which Balmer emission lines and other expected spectral lines for an IW And-type star were detected (even though some of these lines were also expected to be present for Be stars). We detect Bowen fluorescence near the brightening phase, and that can be used to discriminate between IW And-type stars and Be stars. Finally, despite only observing for four nights, the polarization variation was detected, indicating that HO Pup has significant intrinsic polarization., Comment: 24 pages, 7 tables and 12 figures; ApJ accepted

We investigate the mass-velocity dispersion relation (MVDR) in 29 galaxy clusters in the HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample (HIFLUGCS). We measure the spatially resolved, line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles of these clusters, which we find to be mostly flat at large radii, reminiscent of the rotation curves of galaxies. We discover a tight empirical relation between the baryonic mass $M_\mathrm{bar}$ and the flat velocity dispersion $\sigma$ of the member galaxies, i.e. MVDR, $\log(M_\mathrm{bar}/M_\odot)=4.1^{+0.4}_{-0.4}\,\log(\sigma/\mathrm{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1})+1.6^{+1.0}_{-1.3}$, with the lognormal intrinsic scatter of $12^{+3}_{-3}\%$. The residuals of the MVDR are uncorrelated with other cluster properties like temperature, cluster radius, baryonic mass surface density, and redshift. These characteristics are reminiscent of the MVDR for individual galaxies, albeit about ten times larger characteristic acceleration scale. The cluster baryon fraction falls short of the cosmic value, exposing a problem: the discrepancy increases systematically for clusters of lower mass and lower baryonic acceleration., Comment: Version accepted by ApJ; 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 Tables

From a study of the light curves of the M dwarfs observed by the Kepler space telescope in its primary mission, a number of flare events with the peak flux increases reaching more than the nominal stellar luminosity have been found. One of them, KIC 9201463, produced an extreme flare with the peak flux increase jumping to five times the quiet-time value. In relative terms, this class of hyperflares is much stronger than the superflares of the solar-type stars and could have a very important influence on the atmospheric evolution and the potential development of biospheres of habitable super-Earths orbiting around M dwarf stars. A cross-correlation of the flare activities of some of these M dwarf stars and their Hα equivalent width (EW) values derived from the LAMOST project indicates that the Hα EW values can be used to monitor the occurrence of hyperflares as well as the level of flare activity of different classes of M dwarfs with fast to slow rotations, and hence the long-term environmental effects of star–planet interaction of exoplanets.

We investigate the nuclear dust properties of hidden broad-line region (HBLR) and non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies. Optical images obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope for a selected sample of HBLR and non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies are fitted with the Galfit package to probe the inner structures of these galaxies within the central 1 kpc regions. Most of the galaxies show complicated dust features in these regions. However, the dust morphology shows no significant difference between the HBLR and non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies. Dust masses inside the 1 kpc nuclear regions (M1 kpc) are estimated from the obscuration levels in the central regions of these galaxies. We compare our results with other observed properties, including [O III], far-infrared, and radio emission. We find that the HBLR and non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies show different near-infrared colors and M1 kpc-FIR correlations, indicating that these two classes of Seyfert 2 galaxies are dominated by different emission mechanisms. We suggest that they are intrinsically different and cannot be explained by the standard unification model.

We present a radio-quiet quasar at z=0.237 discovered "turning on" by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). The transient, iPTF 16bco, was detected by iPTF in the nucleus of a galaxy with an archival SDSS spectrum with weak narrow-line emission characteristic of a low-ionization emission line region (LINER). Our follow-up spectra show the dramatic appearance of broad Balmer lines and a power-law continuum characteristic of a luminous (L_bol~10^45 erg/s) type 1 quasar 12 years later. Our photometric monitoring with PTF from 2009-2012, and serendipitous X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton Slew Survey in 2011 and 2015, constrain the change of state to have occurred less than 500 days before the iPTF detection. An enhanced broad Halpha to [OIII]5007 line ratio in the type 1 state relative to other changing-look quasars also is suggestive of the most rapid change of state yet observed in a quasar. We argue that the >10 increase in Eddington ratio inferred from the brightening in UV and X-ray continuum flux is more likely due to an intrinsic change in the accretion rate of a pre-existing accretion disk, than an external mechanism such as variable obscuration, microlensing, or the tidal disruption of a star. However, further monitoring will be helpful in better constraining the mechanism driving this change of state. The rapid "turn on" of the quasar is much shorter than the viscous infall timescale of an accretion disk, and requires a disk instability that can develop around a ~10^8 M_sun black hole on timescales less than a year., Accepted for Publication in ApJ

We compare the 4000 A break (Dn (4000)) strength in the central kpc of hidden broad-line region (HBLR) and non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies to investigate the origin of these galaxies. Our results show that the Dn (4000) strengths in the nuclear regions of the non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies are larger than those in the HBLR galaxies. We also show that the Dn (4000) strength is not related to the morphology of host galaxies. These results imply that the non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies have an older stellar population in nuclear regions than the HBLR galaxies. This suggests that an evolutionary connection might exist between non-HBLR and HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies. We propose a potential evolutionary scenario and a modified unification model for Seyfert galaxies. In this scheme, Seyfert 1 and HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies evolve into unabsorbed and absorbed non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies. We also discuss the implications of our results in the hydrogen column density distribution of the non-HBLR Seyfert 2 galaxies.