No Evidence for [O III] Variability in Mrk 142

Using archival data from the 2008 Lick AGN Monitoring Project, Zhang & Feng (2016) claimed to find evidence for flux variations in the narrow [O III] emission of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 142 over a two-month time span. If correct, this would imply a surprisingly compact size for the narrow-line region. We show that the claimed [O III] variations are merely the result of random errors in the overall flux calibration of the spectra. The data do not provide any support for the hypothesis that the [O III] flux was variable during the 2008 monitoring period.Comment: Response to Zhang & Feng 2016, MNRAS Letters, 457, L64 (arXiv:1512.07673). Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. 5 pages, 2 figure

Block co-polyMOFs: morphology control of polymer-MOF hybrid materials.

The hybridization of block copolymers and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to create novel materials (block co-polyMOFs, BCPMOFs) with controlled morphologies is reported. In this study, block copolymers containing poly(1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, H2bdc) and morphology directing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or poly(cyclooctadiene) (poly(COD)) blocks were synthesized for the preparation of BCPMOFs. Block copolymer architecture and weight fractions were found to have a significant impact on the resulting morphology, mediated through the assembly of polymer precursors prior to MOF formation, as determined through dynamic light scattering. Simple modification of block copolymer weight fraction allowed for tuning of particle size and morphology with either faceted and spherical features. Modification of polymer block architecture represents a simple and powerful method to direct morphology in highly crystalline polyMOF materials. Furthermore, the BCPMOFs could be prepared from both Zr4+ and Zn2+ MOFs, yielding hybrid materials with appreciable surface areas and tuneable porosities. The resulting Zn2+ BCPMOF yielded materials with very narrow size distributions and uniform cubic morphologies. The use of topology in BCPMOFs to direct morphology in block copolymer assemblies may open new methodologies to access complex materials far from thermodynamic equilibrium

Role of diquark correlations and the pion cloud in nucleon elastic form factors

Electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon in the space-like region are investigated within the framework of a covariant and confining Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The bound state amplitude of the nucleon is obtained as the solution of a relativistic Faddeev equation, where diquark correlations appear naturally as a consequence of the strong coupling in the colour $\bar{3}$ $qq$ channel. Pion degrees of freedom are included as a perturbation to the "quark-core" contribution obtained using the Poincar\'e covariant Faddeev amplitude. While no model parameters are fit to form factor data, excellent agreement is obtained with the empirical nucleon form factors (including the magnetic moments and radii) where pion loop corrections play a critical role for $Q^2 \lesssim 1\,$GeV$^2$. Using charge symmetry, the nucleon form factors can be expressed as proton quark sector form factors. The latter are studied in detail, leading, for example, to the conclusion that the $d$-quark sector of the Dirac form factor is much softer than the $u$-quark sector, a consequence of the dominance of scalar diquark correlations in the proton wave function. On the other hand, for the proton quark sector Pauli form factors we find that the effect of the pion cloud and axialvector diquark correlations overcomes the effect of scalar diquark dominance, leading to a larger $d$-quark anomalous magnetic moment and a form factor in the $u$-quark sector that is slightly softer than in the $d$-quark sector.Comment: 30 pages and 40 figure

Spin-dependent structure functions in nuclear matter and the polarized EMC effect

An excellent description of both spin-independent and spin-dependent quark distributions and structure functions has been obtained with a modified Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, which is free of unphysical thresholds for nucleon decay into quarks - hence incorporating an important aspect of confinement. We utilize this model to investigate nuclear medium modifications to structure functions and find that we are readily able to reproduce both nuclear matter saturation and the experimental F^A_2N / F_2N ratio, that is, the EMC effect. Applying this framework to determine g^A_1p, we find that the ratio g^A_1p / g_1p differs significantly from 1, with the quenching caused by the nuclear medium being about twice that of the spin-independent case. This represents an exciting result, which if confirmed experimentally, will reveal much about the quark structure of nuclear matter.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Parity-violating DIS and the flavour dependence of the EMC effect

Isospin-dependent nuclear forces play a fundamental role in nuclear structure. In relativistic models of nuclear structure constructed at the quark level these isovector nuclear forces affect the u and d quarks differently, leading to non-trivial flavour dependent modifications of the nuclear parton distributions. We explore the effect of isospin dependent forces for parity-violating deep inelastic scattering on nuclear targets and demonstrate that the cross-sections for nuclei with N /= Z are sensitive to the flavour dependence of the EMC effect. Indeed, for nuclei like lead and gold we find that these flavour dependent effects are large.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure