20,778 research outputs found
NICMOS2 hubble space telescope observations of the embedded cluster associated with Mon R2: Constraining the substellar initial mass function
We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS2 F110W-, F160W-, F165M-, and F207M-band images covering the central 1' × 1' region of the cluster associated with Mon R2 in order to constrain the initial mass function (IMF) down to 20M_J. The flux ratio between the F165M and F160W bands was used to measure the strength of the water-band absorption feature and select a sample of 12 out of the total sample of 181 objects that have effective temperatures between 2700 and 3300 K. These objects are placed in the H-R diagram together with sources observed by Carpenter et al. to estimate an age of ~1 Myr for the low-mass cluster population. By constructing extinction-limited samples, we are able to constrain the IMF and the fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk in a sample that is 90% complete for both high- and low-mass objects. For stars with estimated masses between 0.1 and 1.0 M_☉ for a 1 Myr population with A_V ≤ 19 mag, we find that 27% ± 9% have a near-infrared excess indicative of a circumstellar disk. The derived fraction is similar to or slightly lower than the fraction found in other star-forming regions of comparable age. We constrain the number of stars in the mass interval 0.08-1.0 M_☉ to the number of objects in the mass interval 0.02-0.08 M_☉ by forming the ratio R^(**) = N(0.08-1 M_☉)/N(0.02-0.08 M_☉) for objects in an extinction-limited sample complete for A_V ≤ 7 mag. The ratio is found to be R^(**) = 2.2 ± 1.3, assuming an age of 1 Myr, consistent with the similar ratio predicted by the system IMF proposed by Chabrier. The ratio is similar to the ratios observed toward the Orion Nebula Cluster and IC 348, as well as the ratio derived in the 28 deg^2 survey of Taurus by Guieu et al
Theory of the magnetoeletric effect in a lightly doped high-Tc cuprate
In a recent study Viskadourakis et al. discovered that extremely underdoped
La_2CuO_(4+x) is a relaxor ferroelectric and a magnetoelectric material at low
temperatures. It is further observed that the magnetoelectric response is
anisotropic for different directions of electric polarization and applied
magnetic field. By constructing an appropriate Landau theory, we show that a
bi-quadratic magnetoelectric coupling can explain the experimentally observed
polarization dependence on magnetic field. This coupling leads to several novel
low-temperature effects including a feedback enhancement of the magnetization
below the ferroelectric transition, and a predicted magnetocapacitive effect.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Electron-phonon interaction in Graphite Intercalation Compounds
Motivated by the recent discovery of superconductivity in Ca- and
Yb-intercalated graphite (CaC and YbC) and from the ongoing debate
on the nature and role of the interlayer state in this class of compounds, in
this work we critically study the electron-phonon properties of a simple model
based on primitive graphite. We show that this model captures an essential
feature of the electron-phonon properties of the Graphite Intercalation
Compounds (GICs), namely, the existence of a strong dormant electron-phonon
interaction between interlayer and electrons, for which we
provide a simple geometrical explanation in terms of NMTO Wannier-like
functions. Our findings correct the oversimplified view that
nearly-free-electron states cannot interact with the surrounding lattice, and
explain the empirical correlation between the filling of the interlayer band
and the occurrence of superconductivity in Graphite-Intercalation Compounds.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Competing superconducting and magnetic order parameters and field-induced magnetism in electron doped Ba(FeCo)As
We have studied the magnetic and superconducting properties of
Ba(FeCo)As as a function of temperature and
external magnetic field using neutron scattering and muon spin rotation. Below
the superconducting transition temperature the magnetic and superconducting
order parameters coexist and compete. A magnetic field can significantly
enhance the magnetic scattering in the superconducting state, roughly doubling
the Bragg intensity at 13.5 T. We perform a microscopic modelling of the data
by use of a five-band Hamiltonian relevant to iron pnictides. In the
superconducting state, vortices can slow down and freeze spin fluctuations
locally. When such regions couple they result in a long-range ordered
antiferromagnetic phase producing the enhanced magnetic elastic scattering in
agreement with experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Percolation Effects in Very High Energy Cosmic Rays
Most QCD models of high energy collisions predict that the inelasticity
is an increasing function of the energy. We argue that, due to percolation of
strings, this behaviour will change and, at GeV, the
inelasticity will start to decrease with the energy. This has straightforward
consequences in high energy cosmic ray physics: 1) the relative depth of the
shower maximum grows faster with energy above the knee; 2) the energy
measurements of ground array experiments at GZK energies could be
overestimated.Comment: Correction of equation (19) and figures 3 and 4. 4 pages, 4 figure
Variational study of the antiferromagnetic insulating phase of V2O3 based on Nth order Muffin-Tin-Orbitals
Motivated by recent results of th order muffin-tin orbital (NMTO)
implementation of the density functional theory (DFT), we re-examine
low-temperature ground-state properties of the anti-ferromagnetic insulating
phase of vanadium sesquioxide VO. The hopping matrix elements obtained
by the NMTO-downfolding procedure differ significantly from those previously
obtained in electronic structure calculations and imply that the in-plane
hopping integrals are as important as the out-of-plane ones. We use the NMTO
hopping matrix elements as input and perform a variational study of the ground
state. We show that the formation of stable molecules throughout the crystal is
not favorable in this case and that the experimentally observed magnetic
structure can still be obtained in the atomic variational regime. However the
resulting ground state (two electrons occupying the degenerate
doublet) is in contrast with many well established experimental observations.
We discuss the implications of this finding in the light of the non-local
electronic correlations certainly present in this compound.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
The role of binaries in the enrichment of the early Galactic halo. I. r-process-enhanced metal-poor stars
The detailed chemical composition of most metal-poor halo stars has been
found to be highly uniform, but a minority of stars exhibit dramatic
enhancements in their abundances of heavy neutron-capture elements and/or of
carbon. The key question for Galactic chemical evolution models is whether
these peculiarities reflect the composition of the natal clouds, or if they are
due to later mass transfer of processed material from a binary companion. If
the former case applies, the observed excess of certain elements was implanted
within selected clouds in the early ISM from a production site at interstellar
distances. Our aim is to determine the frequency and orbital properties of
binaries among these chemically peculiar stars. This information provides the
basis for deciding whether mass transfer from a binary companion is necessary
and sufficient to explain their unusual compositions. This paper discusses our
study of a sample of 17 moderately (r-I) and highly (r-II) r-process-element
enhanced VMP and EMP stars. High-resolution, low signal-to-noise spectra of the
stars were obtained at roughly monthly intervals over 8 years with the FIES
spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope. From these spectra, radial
velocities with an accuracy of ~100 m/s were determined by cross-correlation
against an optimized template. 14 of the programme stars exhibit no significant
RV variation over this period, while 3 are binaries with orbits of typical
eccentricity for their periods, resulting in a normal binary frequency of
~18+-6% for the sample. Our results confirm our preliminary conclusion from
2011, based on partial data, that the chemical peculiarity of the r-I and r-II
stars is not caused by any putative binary companions. Instead, it was
imprinted on the natal molecular clouds of these stars by an external, distant
source. Models of the ISM in early galaxies should account for such mechanisms.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Effective potential for Polyakov loops from a center symmetric effective theory in three dimensions
We present lattice simulations of a center symmetric dimensionally reduced
effective field theory for SU(2) Yang Mills which employ thermal Wilson lines
and three-dimensional magnetic fields as fundamental degrees of freedom. The
action is composed of a gauge invariant kinetic term, spatial gauge fields and
a potential for the Wilson line which includes a "fuzzy" bag term to generate
non-perturbative fluctuations. The effective potential for the Polyakov loop is
extracted from the simulations including all modes of the loop as well as for
cooled configuration where the hard modes have been averaged out. The former is
found to exhibit a non-analytic contribution while the latter can be described
by a mean-field like ansatz with quadratic and quartic terms, plus a
Vandermonde potential which depends upon the location within the phase diagram.Comment: 10 pages, 22 figures, v2: published version (minor clarifications,
update of reference list
Mass Expansions of Screened Perturbation Theory
The thermodynamics of massless phi^4-theory is studied within screened
perturbation theory (SPT). In this method the perturbative expansion is
reorganized by adding and subtracting a mass term in the Lagrangian. We
analytically calculate the pressure and entropy to three-loop order and the
screening mass to two-loop order, expanding in powers of m/T. The truncated
m/T-expansion results are compared with numerical SPT results for the pressure,
entropy and screening mass which are accurate to all orders in m/T. It is shown
that the m/T-expansion converges quickly and provides an accurate description
of the thermodynamic functions for large values of the coupling constant.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure
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