Superconductivity in Pseudo-Binary Silicide SrNixSi2-x with AlB2-Type Structure

We demonstrate the emergence of superconductivity in pseudo-binary silicide SrNixSi2-x. The compound exhibits a structural phase transition from the cubic SrSi2-type structure (P4132) to the hexagonal AlB2-type structure (P6/mmm) upon substituting Ni for Si at approximately x = 0.1. The hexagonal structure is stabilized in the range of 0.1 < x < 0.7. The superconducting phase appears in the vicinity of the structural phase boundary. Ni acts as a nonmagnetic dopant, as confirmed by the Pauli paramagnetic behavior.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Analysis of patterns formed by two-component diffusion limited aggregation

We consider diffusion limited aggregation of particles of two different kinds. It is assumed that a particle of one kind may adhere only to another particle of the same kind. The particles aggregate on a linear substrate which consists of periodically or randomly placed particles of different kinds. We analyze the influence of initial patterns on the structure of growing clusters. It is shown that at small distances from the substrate, the cluster structures repeat initial patterns. However, starting from a critical distance the initial periodicity is abruptly lost, and the particle distribution tends to a random one. An approach describing the evolution of the number of branches is proposed. Our calculations show that the initial patter can be detected only at the distance which is not larger than approximately one and a half of the characteristic pattern size.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Magnetic excitations in weakly coupled spin dimers and chains material Cu2Fe2Ge4O13

Magnetic excitations in a weakly coupled spin dimers and chains compound Cu2Fe2Ge4O13 are measured by inelastic neutron scattering. Both structure factors and dispersion of low energy excitations up to 10 meV energy transfer are well described by a semiclassical spin wave theory involving interacting Fe$^{3+}$ ($S = 5/2$) chains. Additional dispersionless excitations are observed at higher energies, at $\hbar \omega = 24$ meV, and associated with singlet-triplet transitions within Cu$^{2+}$-dimers. Both types of excitations can be understood by treating weak interactions between the Cu$^{2+}$ and Fe$^{3+}$ subsystems at the level of the Mean Field/ Random Phase Approximation. However, this simple model fails to account for the measured temperature dependence of the 24 meV mode.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

Cooperative ordering of gapped and gapless spin networks in Cu2_2Fe2_2Ge4_4O13_{13}

The unusual magnetic properties of a novel low-dimensional quantum ferrimagnet Cu$_2$Fe$_2$Ge$_4$O$_{13}$ are studied using bulk methods, neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering. It is shown that this material can be described in terms of two low-dimensional quantum spin subsystems, one gapped and the other gapless, characterized by two distinct energy scales. Long-range magnetic ordering observed at low temperatures is a cooperative phenomenon caused by weak coupling of these two spin networks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The 3-D kinematics of water masers around the semiregular variable RT Virginis

We report observations of water masers around the semiregular variable RT Virginis (RT Vir), which have been made with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) at five epochs, each separated by three weeks of time. We detected about 60 maser features at each epoch. Overall, 61 features, detected at least twice, were tracked by their radial velocities and proper motions. The 3-D maser kinematics exhibited a circumstellar envelope that is expanding roughly spherically with a velocity of about 8 km/s. Asymmetries in both the spatial and velocity distributions of the maser features were found in the envelope, but less significant than that found in other semiregular variables. Systematic radial-velocity drifts of individual maser features were found with amplitudes of <= 2 km/s/yr. For one maser feature, we found a quadratic position shift with time along a straight line on the sky. This apparent motion indicates an acceleration with an amplitude of 33 km/s/yr, implying the passage of a shock wave driven by the stellar pulsation of RT Vir. The acceleration motion is likely seen only on the sky plane because of a large velocity gradient formed in the accelerating maser region. We estimated the distance to RT Vir to be about 220 pc on the basis of both the statistical parallax and model-fitting methods for the maser kinematics.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. Accepted to appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Effect of annealing on the specific heat of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2

We report on the effect of annealing on the temperature and field dependencies of the low temperature specific heat of the electron-doped Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ for under-(x = 0.045), optimal- (x = 0.08) and over-doped (x = 0.105 and 0.14) regimes. We observed that annealing significantly improves some superconducting characteristics in Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$. It considerably increases $T_{c}$, decreases $\gamma_{0}$ in the superconducting state and suppresses the Schottky-like contribution at very low temperatures. The improved sample quality allows for a better identification of the superconducting gap structure of these materials. We examine the effects of doping and annealing within a self-consistent framework for an extended s-wave pairing scenario. At optimal doping our data indicates the sample is fully gapped, while for both under and overdoped samples significant low-energy excitations possibly consistent with a nodal structure remain. The difference of sample quality offers a natural explanation for the variation in low temperature power laws observed by many techniques.Comment: 9 pages: added references, two figures and supplementary information; Accepted to Physical Review B (Jan 10, 2010

Quantum Critical Scaling in a Moderately Doped Antiferromagnet

Using high temperature expansions for the equal time correlator $S(q)$ and static susceptibility $\chi(q)$ for the t-J model, we present evidence for quantum critical (QC), $z\!=\!1$, behavior at intermediate temperatures in a broad range of $t/J$ ratio, doping, and temperatures. We find that the dynamical susceptibility is very close to the universal scaling function computable for the asymptotic QC regime, and that the dominant energy scale is temperature. Our results are in excellent agreement with measurements of the spin-echo decay rate, $1/T_{\rm 2G}$, in La$_2$CuO$_4$, and provide qualitative understanding of both $1/T_1$ and $1/T_{\rm 2G}$ nuclear relaxation rates in doped cuprates.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX v3.0, PostScript file for 3 figures is attached, UIUC-P-93-07-068. In this revised version, we calculate the scaling functions and thus present new and more direct evidence in favor of our original conclusion