King Pin? A Case Study of a Middle Market Drug Broker

The article is concerned with 'middle market' drug distribution, based on research that involved prison interviews with middle and upper level drug dealers and interviews with a range of enforcement personnel. It offers a preliminary discussion of different definitions of the 'middle market', where various forms of drug brokerage connect up different levels of drug markets. It goes on to provide a detailed case study of a single middle market drug distribution network, illustrating the complexity of such operations, the way in which drug brokers work as free trading entrepreneurs, and the often misunderstood role of violence in serious crime networks such as these

Graph Minors and Parameterized Algorithm Design

Abstract. The Graph Minors Theory, developed by Robertson and Sey-mour, has been one of the most influential mathematical theories in pa-rameterized algorithm design. We present some of the basic algorithmic techniques and methods that emerged from this theory. We discuss its direct meta-algorithmic consequences, we present the algorithmic appli-cations of core theorems such as the grid-exclusion theorem, and we give a brief description of the irrelevant vertex technique

Mass determinations of the three mini-Neptunes transiting TOI-125

Stars and planetary system

A remnant planetary core in the hot-Neptune desert

The interiors of giant planets remain poorly understood. Even for the planets in the Solar System, difficulties in observation lead to large uncertainties in the properties of planetary cores. Exoplanets that have undergone rare evolutionary processes provide a route to understanding planetary interiors. Planets found in and near the typically barren hot-Neptune ‘desert’1,2 (a region in mass–radius space that contains few planets) have proved to be particularly valuable in this regard. These planets include HD149026b3, which is thought to have an unusually massive core, and recent discoveries such as LTT9779b4 and NGTS-4b5, on which photoevaporation has removed a substantial part of their outer atmospheres. Here we report observations of the planet TOI-849b, which has a radius smaller than Neptune’s but an anomalously large mass of Earth masses and a density of grams per cubic centimetre, similar to Earth’s. Interior-structure models suggest that any gaseous envelope of pure hydrogen and helium consists of no more than per cent of the total planetary mass. The planet could have been a gas giant before undergoing extreme mass loss via thermal self-disruption or giant planet collisions, or it could have avoided substantial gas accretion, perhaps through gap opening or late formation6. Although photoevaporation rates cannot account for the mass loss required to reduce a Jupiter-like gas giant, they can remove a small (a few Earth masses) hydrogen and helium envelope on timescales of several billion years, implying that any remaining atmosphere on TOI-849b is likely to be enriched by water or other volatiles from the planetary interior. We conclude that TOI-849b is the remnant core of a giant planet

A remnant planetary core in the hot-Neptune desert

The interiors of giant planets remain poorly understood. Even for the planets in the Solar System, difficulties in observation lead to large uncertainties in the properties of planetary cores. Exoplanets that have undergone rare evolutionary processes provide a route to understanding planetary interiors. Planets found in and near the typically barren hot-Neptune ‘desert’1,2 (a region in mass–radius space that contains few planets) have proved to be particularly valuable in this regard. These planets include HD149026b3, which is thought to have an unusually massive core, and recent discoveries such as LTT9779b4 and NGTS-4b5, on which photoevaporation has removed a substantial part of their outer atmospheres. Here we report observations of the planet TOI-849b, which has a radius smaller than Neptune’s but an anomalously large mass of 39.1−2.6+2.7 Earth masses and a density of 5.2−0.8+0.7 grams per cubic centimetre, similar to Earth’s. Interior-structure models suggest that any gaseous envelope of pure hydrogen and helium consists of no more than 3.9−0.9+0.8 per cent of the total planetary mass. The planet could have been a gas giant before undergoing extreme mass loss via thermal self-disruption or giant planet collisions, or it could have avoided substantial gas accretion, perhaps through gap opening or late formation6. Although photoevaporation rates cannot account for the mass loss required to reduce a Jupiter-like gas giant, they can remove a small (a few Earth masses) hydrogen and helium envelope on timescales of several billion years, implying that any remaining atmosphere on TOI-849b is likely to be enriched by water or other volatiles from the planetary interior. We conclude that TOI-849b is the remnant core of a giant planet

TOI-431/HIP 26013: a super-Earth and a sub-Neptune transiting a bright, early K dwarf, with a third RV planet

Stars and planetary system

TOI-431/HIP 26013: A super-Earth and a sub-Neptune transiting a bright, early K dwarf, with a third RV planet

We present the bright (Vmag = 9.12), multiplanet system TOI-431, characterized with photometry and radial velocities (RVs). We estimate the stellar rotation period to be 30.5 ± 0.7 d using archival photometry and RVs. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) objects of Interest (TOI)-431 b is a super-Earth with a period of 0.49 d, a radius of 1.28 ± 0.04 R, a mass of 3.07 ± 0.35 M, and a density of 8.0 ± 1.0 g cm-3; TOI-431 d is a sub-Neptune with a period of 12.46 d, a radius of 3.29 ± 0.09 R, a mass of 9.90+1.53-1.49 M, and a density of 1.36 ± 0.25 g cm-3. We find a third planet, TOI-431 c, in the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher RV data, but it is not seen to transit in the TESS light curves. It has an Msin i of 2.83+0.41-0.34 M, and a period of 4.85 d. TOI-431 d likely has an extended atmosphere and is one of the most well-suited TESS discoveries for atmospheric characterization, while the super-Earth TOI-431 b may be a stripped core. These planets straddle the radius gap, presenting an interesting case-study for atmospheric evolution, and TOI-431 b is a prime TESS discovery for the study of rocky planet phase curves