Extraordinary sensitivity of the electronic structure and properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes to molecular charge-transfer

Interaction of single-walled carbon nanotubes with electron donor and acceptor molecules causes significant changes in the electronic and Raman spectra, the relative proportion of the metallic species increasing on electron donation through molecular charge transfer, as also verified by electrical resistivity measurements.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figurre

Scaling the Stiffness, Strength, and Toughness of Ceramic‐Coated Nanotube Foams into the Structural Regime

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108652/1/adfm201400851-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108652/2/adfm201400851.pd

Atypical chemoreceptor arrays accommodate high membrane curvature

The prokaryotic chemotaxis system is arguably the best-understood signaling pathway in biology. In all previously described species, chemoreceptors organize into a hexagonal (P6 symmetry) extended array. Here, we report an alternative symmetry (P2) of the chemotaxis apparatus that emerges from a strict linear organization of the histidine kinase CheA in Treponema denticola cells, which possesses arrays with the highest native curvature investigated thus far. Using cryo-ET, we reveal that Td chemoreceptor arrays assume an unusual arrangement of the supra-molecular protein assembly that has likely evolved to accommodate the high membrane curvature. The arrays have several atypical features, such as an extended dimerization domain of CheA and a variant CheW-CheR-like fusion protein that is critical for maintaining an ordered chemosensory apparatus. Furthermore, the previously characterized Td oxygen sensor ODP influences CheA ordering. These results suggest a greater diversity of the chemotaxis signaling system than previously thought

Star Clusters in the Near-ultraviolet-optical-near-infrared: Spectral Energy Distribution Modeling with Direct Markers of Gas and Dust Emission

The large number of star clusters in nearby galaxies permits us to statistically test the predictions of stellar, dust, and gas models. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) broadband plus Hα imaging combined with JWST near-infrared imaging, we use a total of 10 filters spanning near-ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths to model key physical parameters, including age, mass, and reddening, of 6130 star clusters in 16 nearby spiral galaxies from the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS sample, focusing on their ages, masses, and reddenings. We find that HST/Hα and JWST/NIRCam 2–3.6 μm photometry significantly improves our ability to disentangle the age–reddening degeneracy between young, gas- and dust-rich clusters and older, dustless clusters. The near-infrared data provide strong constraints on hot continuum dust and small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission for populations where gas and dust are present. These hot dust constraints demonstrate that Bruzual & Charlot stellar population models do not align with the observed near-ultraviolet-optical-near-infrared spectral energy distributions of star clusters in the first 10 Myr. We note that for old and low-metallicity globular clusters, the inclusion of narrowband Hα and/or broadband near-infrared data does not improve the determination of age and reddening parameters, due to the lack of stars capable of heating dust in the near-infrared regime

Tracing the Earliest Stages of Star and Cluster Formation in 19 Nearby Galaxies with PHANGS-JWST and HST: Compact 3.3 μ m Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emitters and Their Relation to the Optical Census of Star Clusters

The earliest stages of star and cluster formation are hidden within dense cocoons of gas and dust, limiting their detection at optical wavelengths. With the unprecedented infrared capabilities of JWST, we can now observe dust-enshrouded star formation with ∼10 pc resolution out to ∼20 Mpc. Early findings from PHANGS-JWST suggest that 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission can identify star clusters in their dust-embedded phases. Here, we extend this analysis to 19 galaxies from the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury survey, providing the first characterization of compact sources exhibiting 3.3 μm PAH emission across a diverse sample of nearby star-forming galaxies. We establish a selection criteria based on a median color threshold of F300M − F335M = 0.67 at F335M = 20 and identify 1816 sources. These sources are predominantly located in dust lanes, spiral arms, rings, and galaxy centers, with ∼87% showing concentration indices (CIs) similar to optically detected star clusters. Comparison with the PHANGS-HST catalogs suggests that PAH emission fades within ∼3 Myr. The Hα equivalent width of PAH emitters is 1–2.8 times higher than that of young PHANGS-HST clusters, providing evidence that PAH emitters are on average younger. Analysis of the bright portions of luminosity functions (which should not suffer from incompleteness) shows that young dusty clusters may increase the number of optically visible ≤3 Myr old clusters in PHANGS-HST by a factor between ∼1.8× and 8.5×

PHANGS-HST Catalogs for ∼100,000 Star Clusters and Compact Associations in 38 Galaxies. II. Physical Properties from Decision-tree-based Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting of NUV- U - B - V - I Photometry with Categorical Priors Set by H α Emission, Cluster Morphology, and Other Auxiliary Information

This paper is the second in a series presenting the catalogs and properties of the largest sample to date of ∼100,000 star clusters and compact associations, in 38 spiral galaxies observed by the PHANGS-HST Treasury survey. Here, we present spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting techniques used to compute the age, mass, and reddening for each object. Our decision-tree-based strategy incorporates categorical priors on model age, reddening, and metallicity determined from additional observed parameters: localized Hα emission, source morphology, and demographic-specific locations in the UBVI color–color diagram. This approach is implemented to mitigate model degeneracies, particularly between young dusty clusters and old clusters with minimal dust, which can have identical optical colors. Results based on Hα narrowband imaging from the ground and from Hubble Space Telescope are intercompared, and contrasted with previous SED-fitting efforts. The fraction of the population that is subject to such priors is ∼14%, and of this subset, ∼63% of old globular clusters (GCs) have ages that change by a factor of 10 or more relative to unconstrained fits with single metallicity (Z⊙) simple stellar population models. The demographics of the population are examined through age–mass and age–reddening diagrams (for individual galaxies as well as aggregated over the sample), and the GC mass function. We demonstrate relationships between cluster age–mass diagrams and properties of parent galaxies (galaxy morphology and location relative to the galaxy main sequence). We outline continuing efforts to improve the inference of physical properties, including the incorporation of JWST infrared photometry and updated synthesis models

PHANGS-HST Catalogs for ∼100,000 Star Clusters and Compact Associations in 38 Galaxies. I. Observed Properties

We present the largest catalog to date of star clusters and compact associations in nearby galaxies. We have performed a V-band-selected census of clusters across the 38 spiral galaxies of the PHANGS–Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Treasury Survey, and measured integrated, aperture-corrected near-ultraviolet-U-B-V-I photometry. This work has resulted in uniform catalogs that contain ∼20,000 clusters and compact associations, which have passed human inspection and morphological classification, and a larger sample of ∼100,000 classified by neural network models. Here, we report on the observed properties of these samples, and demonstrate that tremendous insight can be gained from just the observed properties of clusters, even in the absence of their transformation into physical quantities. In particular, we show the utility of the UBVI color–color diagram, and the three principal features revealed by the PHANGS-HST cluster sample: the young cluster locus, the middle-age plume, and the old globular cluster clump. We present an atlas of maps of the 2D spatial distribution of clusters and compact associations in the context of the molecular clouds from PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We explore new ways of understanding this large data set in a multiscale context by bringing together once-separate techniques for the characterization of clusters (color–color diagrams and spatial distributions) and their parent galaxies (galaxy morphology and location relative to the galaxy main sequence). A companion paper presents the physical properties: ages, masses, and dust reddenings derived using improved spectral energy distribution fitting techniques

PHANGS-JWST first results: massive young star clusters and new insights from JWST Observations of NGC 1365

A primary new capability of JWST is the ability to penetrate the dust in star-forming galaxies to identify and study the properties of young star clusters that remain embedded in dust and gas. In this Letter we combine new infrared images taken with JWST with our optical Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of the starbursting barred (Seyfert2) spiral galaxy NGC 1365. We find that this galaxy has the richest population of massive young clusters of any known galaxy within 30 Mpc, with ∼30 star clusters that are more massive than 106 Me and younger than 10 Myr. Sixteen of these clusters are newly discovered from our JWST observations. An examination of the optical images reveals that 4 of 30 (∼13%) are so deeply embedded that they cannot be seen in the Hubble I band (AV 10 mag), and that 11 of 30 (∼37%) are missing in the HST B band, so age and mass estimates from optical measurements alone are challenging. These numbers suggest that massive clusters in NGC 1365 remain completely obscured in the visible for ∼1.3 ± 0.7 Myr and are either completely or partially obscured for ∼3.7 ± 1.1 Myr. We also use the JWST observations to gain new insights into the triggering of star cluster formation by the collision of gas and dust streamers with gas and dust in the bar. The JWST images reveal previously unknown structures (e.g., bridges and overshoot regions from stars that form in the bar) that help us better understand the orbital dynamics of barred galaxies and associated star-forming rings. Finally, we note that the excellent spatial resolution of the NIRCAM F200W filter provides a better way to separate barely resolved compact clusters from individual stars based on their sizes

PAH Feature Ratios around Stellar Clusters and Associations in 19 Nearby Galaxies

We present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O iii]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields

PHANGS-JWST First Results: Dust-embedded Star Clusters in NGC 7496 Selected via 3.3 μm PAH Emission

The earliest stages of star formation occur enshrouded in dust and are not observable in the optical. Here we leverage the extraordinary new high-resolution infrared imaging from JWST to begin the study of dust-embedded star clusters in nearby galaxies throughout the Local Volume. We present a technique for identifying dust-embedded clusters in NGC 7496 (18.7 Mpc), the first galaxy to be observed by the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury Survey. We select sources that have strong 3.3 mu m PAH emission based on a F300M - F335M color excess and identify 67 candidate embedded clusters. Only eight of these are found in the PHANGS-HST optically selected cluster catalog, and all are young (six have SED fit ages of similar to 1 Myr). We find that this sample of embedded cluster candidates may significantly increase the census of young clusters in NGC 7496 from the PHANGS-HST catalog; the number of clusters younger than similar to 2 Myr could be increased by a factor of 2. Candidates are preferentially located in dust lanes and are coincident with the peaks in the PHANGS-ALMA CO (2-1) maps. We take a first look at concentration indices, luminosity functions, SEDs spanning from 2700 angstrom to 21 mu m, and stellar masses (estimated to be between similar to 10(4) and 10(5) M (circle dot)). The methods tested here provide a basis for future work to derive accurate constraints on the physical properties of embedded clusters, characterize the completeness of cluster samples, and expand analysis to all 19 galaxies in the PHANGS-JWST sample, which will enable basic unsolved problems in star formation and cluster evolution to be addressed