Growth, structural and magnetic properties of high coercivity Co/Pt multilayers

Co/Pt multilayer films ([Co (tCo nm)/Pt(1 nm)]10, 0.2 250 degrees C show fine-grained MFM features on the sub-100 nm length scale and hysteresis studies indicate reversal dominated by localized switching of small clusters. The hysteresis curves for the highest coercivity films are sheared with a hysteresis slope alpha=4(pi)dM/dH|Hc approximately equal 1.5, which is close to the ideal value for completely decoupled grains of alpha =1. High resolution cross-sectional TEM with elemental analysis shows columnar grains extending throughout the multilayer stack. Sharp Co/Pt interfaces are found from TEM and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. At higher TG, Co depletion and structural defects at the grain boundaries provide a mechanism for exchange decoupling of adjacent grains, which may result in the high coercivities observed. Anisotropy and magnetization values are estimated as Ku {approx} 8x106 erg/cc and MS {approx} 450 emu/cc (per total volume), hence Hk = 2Ku/MS {approx} 17.5 kOe for the highest coercivity Hc {approx} 15 kOe films

Kaon properties in (proto)neutron stars

The modification on kaon and antikaon properties of in the interior of (proto-)neutron stars is investigated using a chiral SU(3) model. The parameters of the model are fitted to nuclear matter saturation properties, baryon octet vacuum masses, hyperon optical potentials and low energy a kaon-nucleon scattering lengths. We study the kaon/antikaon medium modification and explore the possibility of antikaon condensation in (proto-)neutron star matter at zero as well as finite temperature/entropy and neutrino content. The effect of hyperons on kaon and antikaon optical potentials is also investigated at different stages of the neutron star evolution.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

Positive-strand RNA viruses—a Keystone Symposia report

Positive-strand RNA viruses have been the cause of several recent outbreaks and epidemics, including the Zika virus epidemic in 2015, the SARS outbreak in 2003, and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. On June 18–22, 2022, researchers focusing on positive-strand RNA viruses met for the Keystone Symposium “Positive-Strand RNA Viruses” to share the latest research in molecular and cell biology, virology, immunology, vaccinology, and antiviral drug development. This report presents concise summaries of the scientific discussions at the symposium

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

Perforated tips for high-resolution in-plane magnetic force microscopy

We describe a technique to modify batch-fabricated magnetic force microscopy (MFM) tips to allow high resolution imaging of the in-plane components of stray field. A hole with a diameter as small as 20 nm was milled through the magnetic layer at the apex of each tip using a focused ion beam. The tips were magnetized in the direction parallel to the sample plane. The hole at the apex forms a small pole gap, and the MFM signal arises from interaction of the stray field leakage from this gap with magnetic charge distribution of the sample. Data tracks written in recording media have been used to characterize tip performance

Concurrent supermassive black hole and galaxy growth : linking environment and nuclear activity in z = 2.23 H-alpha emitters

We present results from a ≈100 ks Chandra observation of the 2QZ Cluster 1004+00 structure at z = 2.23 (hereafter 2QZ Clus). 2QZ Clus was originally identified as an overdensity of four optically-selected QSOs at z = 2.23 within a 15 × 15 arcmin2 region. Narrow-band imaging in the near-IR (within the K band) revealed that the structure contains an additional overdensity of 22 z = 2.23 Hα-emitting galaxies (HAEs), resulting in 23 unique z = 2.23 HAEs/QSOs (22 within the Chandra field of view). Our Chandra observations reveal that three HAEs in addition to the four QSOs harbor powerfully accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with 2-10 keV luminosities of ≈(8-60) × 1043 erg s-1 and X-ray spectral slopes consistent with unobscured active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using a large comparison sample of 210 z = 2.23 HAEs in the Chandra-COSMOS field (C-COSMOS), we find suggestive evidence that the AGN fraction increases with local HAE galaxy density. The 2QZ Clus HAEs reside in a moderately overdense environment (a factor of ≈2 times over the field), and after excluding optically-selected QSOs, we find that the AGN fraction is a factor of ≈3.5+3.8 -2.2 times higher than C-COSMOS HAEs in similar environments. Using stacking analyses of the Chandra data and Herschel SPIRE observations at 250 μm, we respectively estimate mean SMBH accretion rates (\dot{M}_BH) and star formation rates (SFRs) for the 2QZ Clus and C-COSMOS samples. We find that the mean 2QZ Clus HAE stacked X-ray luminosity is QSO-like (L 2-10 keV ≈ [6-10] × 1043 erg s-1), and the implied \dot{M}_BH/SFR ≈ (1.6-3.2) × 10-3 is broadly consistent with the local M BH/M sstarf relation and z ≈ 2 X-ray selected AGN. In contrast, the C-COSMOS HAEs are on average an order of magnitude less X-ray luminous and have \dot{M}_BH/SFR ≈ (0.2-0.4) × 10-3, somewhat lower than the local M BH/M sstarf relation, but comparable to that found for z ≈ 1-2 star-forming galaxies with similar mean X-ray luminosities. We estimate that a periodic QSO phase with duty cycle ≈2%-8% would be sufficient to bring star-forming galaxies onto the local M BH/M sstarf relation. This duty cycle is broadly consistent with the observed C-COSMOS HAE AGN fraction (≈0.4%-2.3%) for powerful AGN with L X >~ 1044 erg s-1. Future observations of 2QZ Clus will be needed to identify key factors responsible for driving the mutual growth of the SMBHs and galaxies