The kinematics and morphology of NGC 520: One, two, or three galaxies

The peculiar galaxy NGC 520 (Arp 157) is often interpreted as an interacting pair of galaxies. The identification of the two bulges and overall morphology of the two galaxies has long been a puzzle which the authors attempt to solve here. New longslit optical spectroscopy and near-infrared images of NGC 520 are presented. These data suggest that the northwest peak is the bulge of one of two galaxies in the system. The other larger bulge is clearly evident in the K band image in the middle of the dust lane. The stellar radial velocity profile in the central 10 seconds of the larger bulge is consistent with counterrotation seen in the molecular gas component. This kinematic subsystem could be the remains of a merged gas-rich irregular

Line-of-sight velocity distributions of elliptical galaxies from collisionless mergers

We analyse the skewness of the line-of-sight velocity distributions in model elliptical galaxies built through collisionless galaxy mergers. We build the models using large N-body simulations of mergers between either two spiral or two elliptical galaxies. Our aim is to investigate whether the observed ranges of skewness coefficient (h3) and the rotational support (V/sigma), as well as the anticorrelation between h3 and V, may be reproduced through collisionless mergers. Previous attempts using N-body simulations failed to reach V/sigma ~ 1-2 and corresponding high h3 values, which suggested that gas dynamics and ensuing star formation might be needed in order to explain the skewness properties of ellipticals through mergers. Here we show that high V/sigma and high h3 are reproduced in collisionless spiral-spiral mergers whenever a central bulge allows the discs to retain some of their original angular momentum during the merger. We also show that elliptical-elliptical mergers, unless merging from a high-angular momentum orbit, reproduce the strong skewness observed in non-rotating, giant, boxy ellipticals. The behaviour of the h3 coefficient therefore associates rapidly-rotating disky ellipticals to disc-disc mergers, and associates boxy, slowly-rotating giant ellipticals to elliptical-elliptical mergers, a framework generally consistent with the expectations of hierarchical galaxy formation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS Letters, in pres

Mn valence instability in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films

A Mn valence instability on La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films, grown on LaAlO3 (001)substrates is observed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Mn L-edge and O K-edge. As-grown samples, in situ annealed at 800 C in oxygen, exhibit a Curie temperature well below that of the bulk material. Upon air exposure a reduction of the saturation magnetization, MS, of the films is detected. Simultaneously a Mn2+ spectral signature develops, in addition to the expected Mn3+ and Mn4+ contributions, which increases with time. The similarity of the spectral results obtained by total electron yield and fluorescence yield spectroscopy indicates that the location of the Mn valence anomalies is not confined to a narrow surface region of the film, but can extend throughout the whole thickness of the sample. High temperature annealing at 1000 C in air, immediately after growth, improves the magnetic and transport properties of such films towards the bulk values and the Mn2+ signature in the spectra does not appear. The Mn valence is then stable even to prolonged air exposure. We propose a mechanism for the Mn2+ ions formation and discuss the importance of these observations with respect to previous findings and production of thin films devices.Comment: Double space, 21 pages, 6 figure

Ab-initio study of disorder effects on the electronic and magnetic structures of Sr2_2FeMoO6_6

We have investigated the electronic structure of ordered and disordered Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ using {\it ab-initio} band structure methods. The effect of disorder was simulated within super-cell calculations to realize several configurations with mis-site disorders. It is found that such disorder effects destroy the half-metallic ferro-magnetic state of the ordered compound. It also leads to a substantial reduction of the magnetic moments at the Fe sites in the disordered configurations. Most interestingly, it is found for the disordered configurations, that the magnetic coupling within the Fe sub-lattice as well as that within the Mo sub-lattice always remain ferro-magnetic, while the two sub-lattices couple anti-ferromagnetically, in close analogy to the magnetic structure of the ordered compound, but in contrast to recent suggestions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Interfacial effects in La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 thin films with different complex oxide capping layers

Interfacialeffects in sputtered La2/3Sr1/3MnO3thin films with different capping layers (MgO, LaAlO3, SrTiO3, NdGaO3, and Au) have been locally investigated by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Mn L3,2-edge. Data were acquired by using the total electron yield detection mode thus guaranteeing maximum sensitivity to the interface. The data show that LaAlO3 capping almost does not modify the bulklike Mn valence at the interface. In case of SrTiO3 and Au, the presence of divalent Mn is detected, whereas MgO and NdGaO3 capping lead to an increase of the Mn valence oxidation state. The modification of the nominal Mn valence state leads to depressed surfacemagnetization.We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish MEC (MAT2009-08024 and MAT2008-04931/NAN), CONSOLIDER (CSD2007-00041) and FEDER program. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant No. 226716. Z.K. thanks the Spanish MEC for the financial support through the RyC program.Peer reviewe

Field-induced magnetic anisotropy in La0.7Sr0.3CoO3

Magnetic anisotropy has been measured for the ferromagnetic La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 perovskite from an analysis of the high-field part of the magnetization vs. field curves, i.e., the magnetic saturation regime. These measurements give a magnetic anistropy one order of magnitude higher than that of reference manganites. Surprisingly, the values of the magnetic anisotropy calculated in this way do not coincide with those estimated from measurements of coercive fields which are one order of magnitude smaller. It is proposed that the reason of this anomalous behaviour is a transition of the trivalent Co ions under the external magnetic field from a low-spin to an intermediate-spin state. Such a transition converts the Co3+ ions into Jahn-Teller ions having an only partially quenched orbital angular momentum, which enhances the intra-atomic spin-orbit coupling and magnetic anisotropy.Comment: Accepted of publication in Europhysics Letters, 11 pages, 5 figure