The heavy-element abundances of AGB stars and the angular momentum conservation model of wind accretion for barium stars

Adpoting new s-process nucleosynthesis scenario and branch s-process path, we calculate the heavy-element abundances and C/O ratio of solar metallicity 3M_sun TP-AGB stars. The evolutionary sequence from M to S to C stars of AGB stars is explained naturally by the calculated results. Then combining the angular momentum conservation model of wind accretion with the heavy-element abundances on the surface of TP-AGB stars, we calculate the heavy-element overabundances of barium stars via successive pulsed accreting and mixing. Our results support that the barium stars with longer orbital period, P>1600 days, form through wind accretion scenario.Comment: 14 pages, LaTex, 17 PS figures included, accepted for publication in A &

Non-leptonic two-body weak decays of Λc(2286)\Lambda_c(2286)

We study the non-leptonic two-body weak decays of $\Lambda_c^+(2286)\to {\bf B}_n M$ with ${\bf B}_n$ ($M$) representing as the baryon (meson) states. Based on the $SU(3)$ flavor symmetry, we can describe most of the data reexamined by the BESIII Collaboration with higher precisions. However, our result of ${\cal B}(\Lambda_c^+ \to p\pi^0)=(5.6\pm 1.5)\times 10^{-4}$ is larger than the current experimental limit of $3\times10^{-4}$ (90\% C.L.) by BESIII. In addition, we find that ${\cal B}(\Lambda_c^+ \to \Sigma^+ K^0)=(8.0\pm 1.6)\times 10^{-4}$, ${\cal B}(\Lambda_c^+ \to \Sigma^+ \eta^\prime)=(1.0^{+1.6}_{-0.8})\times 10^{-2}$, and ${\cal B}(\Lambda_c^+ \to p \eta^\prime)=(12.2^{+14.3}_{-\,\,\,8.7})\times 10^{-4}$, which are accessible to the BESIII experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, revised version accepted by PL

Surface States of the Topological Insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_x

We study the electronic surface states of the semiconducting alloy BiSb. Using a phenomenological tight binding model we show that the Fermi surface of the 111 surface states encloses an odd number of time reversal invariant momenta (TRIM) in the surface Brillouin zone confirming that the alloy is a strong topological insulator. We then develop general arguments which show that spatial symmetries lead to additional topological structure, and further constrain the surface band structure. Inversion symmetric crystals have 8 Z_2 "parity invariants", which include the 4 Z_2 invariants due to time reversal. The extra invariants determine the "surface fermion parity", which specifies which surface TRIM are enclosed by an odd number of electron or hole pockets. We provide a simple proof of this result, which provides a direct link between the surface states and the bulk parity eigenvalues. We then make specific predictions for the surface state structure for several faces of BiSb. We next show that mirror invariant band structures are characterized by an integer "mirror Chern number", n_M. The sign of n_M in the topological insulator phase of BiSb is related to a previously unexplored Z_2 parameter in the L point k.p theory of pure Bi, which we refer to as the "mirror chirality", \eta. The value of \eta predicted by the tight binding model for Bi disagrees with the value predicted by a more fundamental pseudopotential calculation. This explains a subtle disagreement between our tight binding surface state calculation and previous first principles calculations on Bi. This suggests that the tight binding parameters in the Liu Allen model of Bi need to be reconsidered. Implications for existing and future ARPES experiments and spin polarized ARPES experiments will be discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

NeIII/OII as an oxygen abundance indicator in the HII regions and HII galaxies

To calibrate the relationship between Ne3O2 (Ne3O2 = log(\neiii$\lambda3869$/\oii$\lambda3727$)) and oxygen abundances, we present a sample of $\sim$3000 \hii galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release four. They are associated with a sample from the literature intended to enlarge the oxygen abundance region. We calculated the electron temperatures ($T_e$) of 210 galaxies in the SDSS sample with the direct method, and $T_e$ of the other 2960 galaxies in SDSS sample calculated with an empirical method. Then, we use a linear least-square fitting to calibrate the Ne3O2 oxygen abundance indicator. It is found that the Ne3O2 estimator follows a linear relation with \zoh\ that holds for the whole abundance range covered by the sample, from approximately 7.0 to 9.0. The best linear relationship between the Ne3O2 and the oxygen abundance is calibrated. The dispersion between oxygen abundance and Ne3O2 index in the metal rich galaxies may come partly from the moderate depletion of oxygen onto grains. The $Ne3O2$ method has the virtue of being single-valued and not affected by internal reddening. As a result, the $Ne3O2$ method can be a good metallicity indicator in the \hii regions and \hii galaxies, especially in high-redshift galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. A&A accepte

A large sample of low surface brightness disk galaxies from the SDSS. I: The sample and the stellar populations

We present the properties of a large sample (12,282) of nearly face-on low surface brightness (LSB) disk galaxies selected from the main galaxy sample of SDSS-DR4. These properties include B-band central surface brightness mu_0(B), scale lengths h, integrated magnitudes, colors, and distances D. This sample has mu_0(B) values from 22 to 24.5 mag arcsec^{-2} with a median value of 22.42 mag arcsec^{-2}, and disk scale lengths ranging from 2 to 19 kpc. They are quite bright with M_B taking values from -18 to -23 mag with a median value of -20.08 mag. There exist clear correlations between logh and M_B, logh and logD, logD and M_B. However, no obvious correlations are found between mu_0(B) and logh, colors etc. The correlation between colors and logh is weak even though it exists. Both the optical-optical and optical-NIR color-color diagrams indicate that most of them have a mixture of young and old stellar populations. They also satisfy color-magnitude relations, which indicate that brighter galaxies tend generally to be redder. The comparison between the LSBGs and a control sample of nearly face-on disk galaxies with higher surface brightness (HSB) with mu_0(B) from 18.5 to 22 mag arcsec^{-2} show that, at a given luminosity or distance, the observed LSB galaxies tend to have larger scale lengths. These trends could be seen gradually by dividing both the LSBGs and HSBGs into two sub-groups according to surface brightness. A volume-limited sub-sample was extracted to check the incompleteness of surface brightness. The only one of the property relations having an obvious change is the relation of logh versus mu_0(B), which shows a correlation in this sub-sample.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Orbital elements of barium stars formed through a wind accretion scenario

Taking the total angular momentum conservation in place of the tangential momentum conservation, and considering the square and higher power terms of orbital eccentricity e, the changes of orbital elements of binaries are calculated for wind accretion scenario. These new equations are used to quantitatively explain the observed (e,logP) properties of normal G, K giants and barium stars. Our results reflect the evolution from G, K giant binaries to barium binaries, moreover, the barium stars with longer orbital periods P>1600 days may be formed by accreting part of the ejecta from the intrinsic AGB stars through wind accretion scenario.Comment: 7 pages, LaTex, 4 PS figures and 1 table included, accepted for publication in A &