We review recent results that indicate that black hole entropy and other thermodynamical quantities can be consistently computed in LQG and that the results are in agreement with Hawking's semiclassical analysis for all values of the Immirzi parameter. This new results are based on the identification of a physical notion of energy for local

We report the discovery of a unique object, BD+48 740, a lithium overabundant giant with A(Li) = 2.33 ± 0.04 (where A(Li) = log n Li/n H + 12), that exhibits radial velocity (RV) variations consistent with a 1.6 MJ companion in a highly eccentric, e = 0.67 ± 0.17, and extended, a = 1.89 AU (P = 771 days), orbit. The high eccentricity of the planet

Context. Models of stellar structure and evolution can be constrained by measuring accurate parameters of detached eclipsing binaries in open clusters. Multiple binary stars provide the means to determine helium abundances in these old stellar systems, and in turn, to improve estimates of their age. Aims: In the first paper of this series, we

We report Herschel SPIRE (250, 350, and 500 μm) detections of 32 quasars with redshifts 0.5

We present the first infrared light curves of the binary V1430 Aql, in the bands J and K, plus V, R and I light curves and spectra covering the ranges of Hβ, Hα and Ca II-IRT lines. Our VRIJK data, together with published radial velocity curves, are analyzed to determine the orbital and stellar parameters of the system. Both stellar components

Context. Results from the theory of radiatively driven winds are nowadays incorporated in stellar evolutionary and population synthesis models, and are used in our interpretation of the observations of the deep Universe. Yet, the theory has been confirmed only until Small Magellanic Cloud metallicities. Observations and analyses of O-stars at lower