Magnetar Driven Bubbles and the Origin of Collimated Outflows from GRBs

We model the interaction between the wind from a newly formed rapidly rotating magnetar and the surrounding progenitor. In the first few seconds after core collapse the magnetar inflates a bubble of plasma and magnetic fields behind the supernova shock, which expands asymmetrically because of the pinching effect of the toroidal magnetic field, as in PWNe, even if the host star is spherically symmetric. The degree of asymmetry depends on the ratio of the magnetic energy to the total energy in the bubble. We assume that the wind by newly formed magnetars inflating these bubbles is more magnetized than for PWNe. We show that for a magnetic to total power supplied by the central magnetar $\sim 0.1$ the bubble expands relatively spherically while for values greater than 0.3, most of the pressure in the bubble is exerted close to the rotation axis, driving a collimated outflow out through the host star. This can account for the collimation inferred from observations of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Given that the wind magnetization increases in time, we thus suggest that the magnetar-driven bubble initially expands relatively spherically (enhancing the energy of the associated supernova) while at late times it becomes progressivelymore collimated (producing the GRB). Similar processes may operate in more modestly rotating neutron stars to produce asymmetric supernovae and lower energy transients such as X-ray flashes.Comment: Proceeding of the conference "Astrophysics of Compact Objects", 1-7 July, Huangshan, Chin

Scalar Mesons a0(1450) and sigma(600) from Lattice QCD

We study the a0 and sigma mesons with the overlap fermion in the chiral regime with the pion mass as low as 182 MeV in the quenched approximation. After the eta'pi ghost states are separated, we find that the a0 mass with q\bar{q} interpolation field to be almost independent of the quark mass in the region below the strange quark mass. The chirally extrapolated results are consistent with a0(1450) being the u\bar{d} meson and K0*(1430) being the u\bar{s} meson with calculated masses at 1.42+_0.13 GeV and 1.41+_ 0.12 GeV respectively. We also calculate the scalar mesonium with a tetraquark interpolation field. In addition to the two pion scattering states, we find a state at around 550 MeV. Through the study of volume dependence, we confirm that this state is a one-particle state, in contrast to the two-pion scattering states. This suggests that the observed state is a tetraquark mesonium which is quite possibly the sigma(600) meson.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Entanglement entropy of integer Quantum Hall states in polygonal domains

The entanglement entropy of the integer Quantum Hall states satisfies the area law for smooth domains with a vanishing topological term. In this paper we consider polygonal domains for which the area law acquires a constant term that only depends on the angles of the vertices and we give a general expression for it. We study also the dependence of the entanglement spectrum on the geometry and give it a simple physical interpretation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Where's the Dust?: The Deepening Anomaly of Microwave Emission in NGC 4725 B

We present new Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations toward NGC 4725 B, a discrete, compact, optically faint region within the star-forming disk of the nearby galaxy NGC 4725 that exhibits strong anomalous microwave emission (AME). These new ALMA data include continuum observations centered at 92, 133, 203, and 221 GHz accompanied by spectral observations of the ¹²CO ( J = 2 → 1) line. NGC 4725 B is detected in the continuum at all frequencies, although the detection at 203 GHz is marginal. While molecular gas is not detected at the exact location of NGC 4725 B, there is molecular gas in the immediate vicinity (i.e., ≾100 pc) along with associated diffuse 8 μm emission. When combined with existing Very Large Array continuum data at 1.5, 3, 5.5, 9, 14, 22, 33, and 44 GHz, the spectrum is best fit by a combination of AME, synchrotron, and free–free emission that is free–free absorbed below ~6 GHz. Given the strength of the AME, there is surprisingly no indication of millimeter dust emission associated with NGC 4725 B on ≾6" spatial scales at the sensitivity of the ALMA interferometric data. Based on the properties of the nearest molecular gas complex and the inferred star formation rate, NGC 4725 B is consistent with being an extremely young (~3–5 Myr) massive (≾10⁵ M_⊙) cluster that is undergoing active cluster feedback. However, the lack of millimeter thermal dust emission is difficult to reconcile with a spinning dust origin of the 30 GHz emission. On the other hand, modeling NGC 4725 B as a new class of background radio galaxy is also unsatisfactory

Hydrogen adsorption on Pd(133) surface

In this study used is an approach based on measurements of the total energy distribution (TED) of field emitted electrons in order to examine the properties of Pd (133) from the aspect of both hydrogen adsorption and surface hydrides formation. The most favourable sites offered to a hydrogen atom to be adsorbed have been indicated and an attempt to describe the peaks of the enhancement factor R spectrum to the specific adsorption sites has also been made.Comment: to be submitted to the Centr. Eur. J. Phy

Intersections of quadrics, moment-angle manifolds, and Hamiltonian-minimal Lagrangian embeddings

We study the topology of Hamiltonian-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds N in C^m constructed from intersections of real quadrics in a work of the first author. This construction is linked via an embedding criterion to the well-known Delzant construction of Hamiltonian toric manifolds. We establish the following topological properties of N: every N embeds as a submanifold in the corresponding moment-angle manifold Z, and every N is the total space of two different fibrations, one over the torus T^{m-n} with fibre a real moment-angle manifold R, and another over a quotient of R by a finite group with fibre a torus. These properties are used to produce new examples of Hamiltonian-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds with quite complicated topology.Comment: 14 pages, published version (minor changes