Topical Corridors

Information on how to sign up for topical corridor and table of contents alerts.

Submissions to the AAS journals should be directed to one of the topical corridors, described below. Each corridor is managed by a different Lead Editor, and with a few minor exceptions, these corridors have been chosen to match existing IAU divisions. As it is inevitable that some submissions will fall near the boundaries of these corridors, the authors should choose the corridor that they believe best reflects the emphasis of the submission. The Lead Editors reserve the right to redirect manuscripts they feel would be better suited to a different submission corridor.

The AAS journal corridors do not uniquely define the division of subject material between The Astrophysical Journal and The Astronomical Journal. The corridor descriptions below include a brief explanation of which topics will be directed to each journal within the corridor. If authors wish to indicate a journal preference that does not correspond to these descriptions, they will have the opportunity to do so during the submission process. If necessary, they can add a justification for that choice to their cover letter.

Authors of relatively short articles of unusual significance and broad interest should select The Astrophysical Journal Letters at manuscript submission.

The Research Notes of the AAS  is a new venue for authors to promptly and briefly share materials of interest with the astronomical community; submissions were first accepted in October 2017.

AAS-Icon_Galaxies

Galaxies and Cosmology

This corridor includes most topics relating to galaxies and cosmology from within the Local Group to the very early universe. This includes: early universe physics, dark matter, dark energy, cosmological models, cosmological parameters (e.g. the Hubble constant, etc.) the cosmic microwave and other diffuse backgrounds, galaxy and structure formation and evolution, stellar populations and the evolution of galaxies, physics and observations of galaxies and galaxy clusters, the intergalactic medium and reionization, and large surveys of the universe. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) may be included here (although some aspects of AGN will also appear in the High Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics corridor). Articles about the internal dynamics of galaxies go to this corridor. Articles that use objects, such as supernovae, primarily as tools to study the universe as a whole should also be submitted to this corridor. Accepted articles submitted to this corridor will be published in ApJ if they have significant theoretical or astrophysical content, AJ if they are primarily observational, or ApJ Supplements if they are devoted to the description of large data sets with little theoretical interpretation.

Christopher Conselice
University of Manchester, UK
Christopher-Conselice

@conselice

Lead Editor Biography

Christopher Conselice is a Full Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, where he has been since 2005. Christopher is an expert on the properties and evolution of galaxies, and he has worked on and studied galaxies from the local universe all the way back to the first galaxies. Before Nottingham he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, and he completed his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Christopher won the Leverhulme Prize in 2009 for his research, which is lately focused on the formation of the first galaxies back to the epic of reionization and preparing for JWST and the Euclid Space Telescope.

Representative Articles:

  1. Testing lambda and the limits of cosmography with the Union2.1 supernova compilation,
    Brett Bochner et al. 2015 ApJ 814 7
  2. Simulating the galaxy cluster “El Gordo” and identifying the merger configuration,
    Congyao Zhang et al. 2015 ApJ 813 129
  3. A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant,
    Adam Riess et al. 2016 ApJ 826 56
  4. The COSMOS2015 Catalog: Exploring the 1 < z < 6 Universe with Half a Million Galaxies,
    C. Laigle et al. 2016 ApJ 224 24
AAS-Icon_High_Energy

High-energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics

This corridor includes the physics and observations of collapsed objects (neutron stars and black holes), processes that produce high energy photons and particles (including cosmic rays) either by themselves or as part of a broad spectrum of emission, the physics of ionized accretion disks and jets, and theoretical and observational studies of supernovae. (Supernovae as tools to study cosmology would normally go in the first corridor.) Other relevant topics include plasma astrophysics, magnetohydrodynamics, shocks, particle acceleration, photoionization, jets, high energy outflows, bursts, extreme gravity, strong magnetic fields, etc. Accepted manuscripts submitted to this corridor will usually be published in ApJ.

Frank Timmes
Arizona State University, Arizona, US
frank-timmes

Lead Editor Biography

Frank Timmes has been an editor for the AAS journals since 2009. His research interests span many different areas, including supernovae, cosmic chemical evolution, astrobiology, gamma-ray astronomy, and high-performance computing.

In 2015 Frank was awarded the Simons Fellows Award in Theoretical Physics, and his articles are regularly among the most cited in astronomy and astrophysics.

Representative Articles:

  1. On the origin and physics of gamma flares in crab nebula, George Machabeli et al. 2015 ApJ 814 38
  2. The rate of core collapse supernovae to Redshift 2.5 from the CANDELS and CLASH supernova surveys, Louis-Gregory Strolger et al. 2015 ApJ 813 93
  3. Super strong magnetic fields of neutron stars in Be X-ray binaries estimated with new torque and magnetosphere models, Chang-Sheng Shi et al. 2015 ApJ 813 91
AAS-Icon_Stars

Stars and Stellar Physics

This corridor includes articles on the properties of stars of all masses and evolutionary stages and the physical mechanisms that govern them. This covers a broad range of aspects, including the determination of stellar observable properties and their time variability with all possible observational techniques, the investigation of their atmospheric and internal constitution, stellar winds and outflows, the theoretical modeling of stellar formation, structure, and evolution, the techniques used to measure and classify stars such as spectroscopy, radial velocities and photometry, and the production of stellar predictions (e.g. stellar evolution tracks, lifetimes, chemical yields, star-planet interactions, etc) used by the astronomical community at large. Manuscripts on young stars should be submitted here, but those on protostellar disks and the environments around young or forming stars, either theoretical or observational, should be submitted to the Interstellar Matter and the Local Universe corridor. Accepted manuscripts in this corridor may be published in either AJ or ApJ, depending on whether the emphasis is on stellar physics or on observational parameters of particular stars or systems. Articles consisting of catalogs of stellar properties, with relatively little interpretation, may be published in ApJ Supplements.

Steve Kawaler
Iowa State University, Iowa, US
steve-kawaler

@SteveKawaler

Lead Editor Biography

Steve Kawaler usually tackles the interior structure and evolution of stars, although he has also flexed his detective muscles as part of the team that solved the mystery of the VJ Day kiss.

Steve’s research interests broadly cover the life (and demise) of stars like our Sun, although he has been particularly interested in their upheavals between departure from the main sequence and settling into their ultimate and permanent white-dwarf senescence. He has been a long-time proponent of asteroseismology, and is involved with the asteroseismic efforts of the Kepler, K2, and TESS missions. In his own words, “We’re excited about what we can learn about stars using data that the Kepler, K2, and TESS missions have and will provide in the hunt for Earth-like planets around other stars.”

Representative Articles:

  1. How massive single stars end their life, A. Heger et al. 2003 ApJ 591 288
  2. Modules for experiments in stellar astrophysics (MESA), Bill Paxton et al. 2011 ApJS 192 3
  3. A comprehensive spectroscopic analysis of DB white dwarfs, P. Bergeron et al. 2011 ApJ 737 28
AAS-Icon_Planetary

The Solar System, Exoplanets, and Astrobiology

This corridor includes articles on exoplanets and solar system objects, including moons and minor bodies. Topics would include the physics of planet formation, and the dynamics of planetary systems, including celestial mechanics. (This last is found in IAU Division A, which is not represented by its own corridor here.) Manuscripts relevant to astrobiology should be submitted to this corridor. As in the previous category, the division between AJ and ApJ primarily depends on whether the content is primarily observational or theoretical. However, following a longstanding tradition, articles in celestial mechanics are typically published in AJ. Articles in astrobiology will normally be published in AJ.

Michael Endl
University of Texas at Austin,
Texas, US
mike_n

Lead Editor Biography

Michael Endl obtained a masters and PhD degree in Astronomy from the University of Vienna. For his PhD thesis he received a graduate student fellowship by the European Southern Observatory. As part of his thesis work he helped to discover the first exoplanet, a Jupiter-type planet, in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star.

After the completion of this doctoral degree he joined the University of Texas at Austin. He is now a Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer at UT. His main scientific interest are the detection and characterization of potentially habitable planets that we might be able to search for bio-signatures in the near future.

Representative Articles:

  1. Most 1.6 Earth-radius planets are not rocky, Leslie A. Rogers 2015 ApJ 801 41
  2. A quantitative criterion for defining planets, Jean-Luc Margot 2015, AJ 150 185
  3. Chaotic disintegration of the inner solar system, Konstantin Batygin et al. 2015 ApJ 799 120
AAS-Icon_Interstellar

Interstellar Matter and the Local Universe

This corridor includes articles on the interstellar medium (ISM) and the stars in our Milky Way and in nearby galaxies (out to ~15 Mpc). The ISM and stars, the two major visible components of a galaxy, are coupled to each other through star formation, stellar feedback and their gravitational potential. Topics range from detailed studies of the physics and chemistry of different components of the ISM (ionized, neutral, molecular), both locally and on galaxy-wide scales, to measurements of resolved stellar populations and star clusters in the Local Universe and the dynamics of galaxies. The formation and evolution of atoms, molecules, and dust during all phases of star formation and death are an integral part of ISM studies. Finally, this corridor includes studies of debris disks and protoplanetary disks. Articles on the ISM, dust, those related to star formation, and laboratory astrophysics relevant to molecules, atoms, and dust particles will be published in ApJ. Data-intensive articles will be published in AJ. Articles that consist of compilations of observational data with relatively little theoretical interpretation can be published in ApJ Supplements.

Giovanni Carraro
Padova University, Italy
Photo_GCa

Lead Editor Biography

Giovanni Carraro’s primary research is resolved stellar populations in optical and infrared pass-bands. He is a professor at Padova University where he teaches “Astrophysics of the Interstellar Medium” and “Astronomical Spectroscopy”. In Padova he is the director of the local PhD school in Astronomy. He spent 9 years working at ESO La Silla-Paranal Observatory in Chile and taking care of IR imagers, in particular Hawk-i. He served as president of the IAU commission on star clusters and association.

He has been a Science Editor of the Astrophysical Journal since 2013.

AAS-Icon_Sun

The Sun and the Heliosphere

This corridor includes everything having to do with the Sun, its internal structure and dynamics, the solar wind out to the heliopause, and the interaction between the solar wind and the ISM. Manuscripts accepted through this corridor will be published in ApJ or ApJ Supplements.

Shadia Habbal
University of Hawaii, Hawaii, US

Lead Editor Biography

Leon Golub is Senior Astrophysicist in the High Energy Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He specializes in studies of solar and stellar magnetic activity, and has built numerous rocket and satellite instruments to study the Sun and its dynamic behavior.

He has published two books in this field, The Solar Corona and Nearest Star: The Surprising Science of our Sun, both with Jay M. Pasachoff.

Representative Articles:

  1. How gas-dynamic flare models powered by Petschek reconnection differ from those with ad hoc energy sources, D. W. Longcope and J. A. Klimchuk 2015 ApJ 813 131
  2. Thermalization of heavy ions in the solar wind, Patrick J. Tracy et al. 2015 ApJ 812 170
  3. The relation between solar eruption topologies and observed flare features. I. Flare ribbons, A. Savcheva et al. 2015 ApJ 810 96
AAS-Icon_Instrumentation

Laboratory Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Software, and Data

This corridor includes articles on instrumentation, astronomical software and computing, large databases, as well as methodological studies that are not strongly tied to a particular subject category already listed above. Laboratory experiments aimed at understanding astrophysical phenomena (“Laboratory Astrophysics”) is also part of this category (shared with ISM and the Local Universe). Authors should also consult the newly revised AAS policy on Software. Accepted manuscripts in this category will be normally be published in AJ, but when appropriate (e.g. software for cosmology) the corridor also feeds into ApJ.

Chris Lintott
Oxford University, UK
chris-lintott

@chrislintott

Lead Editor Biography

Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where he is also a Research Fellow at New College. As Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse, he leads a team that runs the world’s most successful citizen-science projects, including Galaxy Zoo and Planet Hunters, work for which he was awarded the AAS’s Tinsley Prize. His own research focuses on problems of galaxy formation, and on resolving the data problems presented by the next generation of astronomical surveys. He is part of the “brains trust” behind the .Astronomy series of conferences, which bring together those using the web for astronomical research and outreach. A passionate advocate of the public understanding of science, he is the Co-presenter of the BBC’s long running Sky at Night program and the author, with Queen guitarist Brian May and Sir Patrick Moore, of two books, both available in more than 13 languages.

Representative Articles:

  1. yt: A multi-code analysis toolkit for astrophysical simulation data, Matthew J. Turk et al. 2011 ApJS 192 9
  2. Three-dimensional radiation transfer in young stellar objects, B. A. Whitney et al. 2013 ApJS 207 30
  3. galpy: A python Library for Galactic Dynamics, J. Bovy 2015 ApJ 216 29