4 research outputs found
Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy study of paramagnetic superconducting βââ-ET4[(H3O)Fe(C2O4)3]â˘C6H5Br crystals
Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and microscopy (STM) were performed on the paramagnetic molecular superconductor beta''-ET4[(H3O)Fe(C2O4)(3)]C6H5Br. Under ambient pressure, this compound is located near the boundary separating superconducting and insulating phases of the phase diagram. In spite of a strongly reduced critical temperature T-c (T-c = 4.0 K at the onset, zero resistance at T-c = 0.5 K), the low temperature STS spectra taken in the superconducting regions show strong similarities with the higher T-c ET kappa-derivatives series. We exploited different models for the density of states (DOS), with conventional and unconventional order parameters to take into account the role played by possible magnetic and non-magnetic disorder in the superconducting order parameter. The values of the superconducting order parameter obtained by the fitting procedure are close to the ones obtained on more metallic and higher T-c organic crystals and far above the BCS values, suggesting an intrinsic role of disorder in the superconductivity of organic superconductors and a further confirmation of the non-conventional superconductivity in such compounds
Discovery of X-ray polarization angle rotation in active galaxy Mrk 421
The magnetic field conditions in astrophysical relativistic jets can be
probed by multiwavelength polarimetry, which has been recently extended to
X-rays. For example, one can track how the magnetic field changes in the flow
of the radiating particles by observing rotations of the electric vector
position angle . Here we report the discovery of a
rotation in the X-ray band in the blazar Mrk 421 at an average flux state.
Across the 5 days of Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observations of
4-6 and 7-9 June 2022, rotated in total by .
Over the two respective date ranges, we find constant, within uncertainties,
rotation rates ( and ) and polarization
degrees (). Simulations of a random walk of the
polarization vector indicate that it is unlikely that such rotation(s) are
produced by a stochastic process. The X-ray emitting site does not completely
overlap the radio/infrared/optical emission sites, as no similar rotation of
was observed in quasi-simultaneous data at longer wavelengths. We
propose that the observed rotation was caused by a helical magnetic structure
in the jet, illuminated in the X-rays by a localized shock propagating along
this helix. The optically emitting region likely lies in a sheath surrounding
an inner spine where the X-ray radiation is released