Out-of-plane fluctuation conductivity of layered superconductors in strong electric fields

The non-Ohmic effect of a high electric field on the out-of-plane magneto-conductivity of a layered superconductor near the superconducting transition is studied in the frame of the Langevin approach to the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. The transverse fluctuation conductivity is computed in the self-consistent Hartree approximation for an arbitrarily strong electric field and a magnetic field perpendicular to the layers. Our results indicate that high electric fields can be effectively used to suppress the out-of-plane fluctuation conductivity in high-temperature superconductors and a significant broadening of the transition induced by a strong electric field is predicted. Extensions of the results are provided for the case when the electric field is applied at an arbitrary angle with respect to the layers, as well as for the three-dimensional anisotropic regime of a strong interlayer coupling.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev.

Debris Disks around Solar-Type Stars: Observations of the Pleiades with Spitzer Space Telescope

We present Spitzer MIPS observations at 24 um of 37 solar-type stars in the Pleiades and combine them with previous observations to obtain a sample of 71 stars. We report that 23 stars, or 32 +/- 6.8%, have excesses at 24 um at least 10% above their photospheric emission. We compare our results with studies of debris disks in other open clusters and with a study of A stars to show that debris disks around solar-type stars at 115 Myr occur at nearly the same rate as around A-type stars. We analyze the effects of binarity and X-ray activity on the excess flux. Stars with warm excesses tend not to be in equal-mass binary systems, possibly due to clearing of planetesimals by binary companions in similar orbits. We find that the apparent anti-correlations in the incidence of excess and both the rate of stellar rotation and also the level of activity as judged by X-ray emission are statistically weak.Comment: 34 pages; accepted for publication in ApJ; new version included corrections of typos, etc to match published versio

Gravity Indicators in the Near-Infrared Spectra of Brown Dwarfs

We investigate the sensitivity to temperature and gravity of the strong absorption features in the J- and K-band spectra of substellar objects. We compare the spectra of giants and young M dwarfs (of low gravity) to field M and L dwarfs (of high gravity) and to model spectra from the Lyon group. We find that low-resolution spectra of M4 - M9 stars and young brown dwarfs at R ~ 350 and S/N > 70 can determine the spectral type to a precision of pm 1 subtype, using the H2O and CO bands, and can measure the surface gravity to pm 0.5 dex, using the atomic lines of KI and NaI. This result points toward the development of photometric spectral indices to separate low-mass members from foreground and background objects in young clusters and associations. We also emphasize the complexity of the interpretation of the empirical quantities (e.g., spectral types) in terms of the physical variables (e.g., temperature, opacities) in the cool atmospheres of young brown dwarfs.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 44 pages & 10 figures, preliminary results reported in astro-ph/020822

Spitzer 24 micron Survey of Debris Disks in the Pleiades

We performed a 24 micron 2 Deg X 1 Deg survey of the Pleiades cluster, using the MIPS instrument on Spitzer. Fifty four members ranging in spectral type from B8 to K6 show 24 micron fluxes consistent with bare photospheres. All Be stars show excesses attributed to free-free emission in their gaseous envelopes. Five early-type stars and four solar-type stars show excesses indicative of debris disks. We find a debris disk fraction of 25 % for B-A members and 10 % for F-K3 ones. These fractions appear intermediate between those for younger clusters and for the older field stars. They indicate a decay with age of the frequency of the dust-production events inside the planetary zone, with similar time scales for solar-mass stars as have been found previously for A-stars.Comment: accepted to Ap

Near and Mid-IR Photometry of the Pleiades, and a New List of Substellar Candidate Members

We make use of new near and mid-IR photometry of the Pleiades cluster in order to help identify proposed cluster members. We also use the new photometry with previously published photometry to define the single-star main sequence locus at the age of the Pleiades in a variety of color-magnitude planes. The new near and mid-IR photometry extend effectively two magnitudes deeper than the 2MASS All-Sky Point Source catalog, and hence allow us to select a new set of candidate very low mass and sub-stellar mass members of the Pleiades in the central square degree of the cluster. We identify 42 new candidate members fainter than Ks =14 (corresponding to 0.1 Mo). These candidate members should eventually allow a better estimate of the cluster mass function to be made down to of order 0.04 solar masses. We also use new IRAC data, in particular the images obtained at 8 um, in order to comment briefly on interstellar dust in and near the Pleiades. We confirm, as expected, that -- with one exception -- a sample of low mass stars recently identified as having 24 um excesses due to debris disks do not have significant excesses at IRAC wavelengths. However, evidence is also presented that several of the Pleiades high mass stars are found to be impacting with local condensations of the molecular cloud that is passing through the Pleiades at the current epoch.Comment: Accepted to ApJS; data tables and embedded-figure version available at http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/stauffer/pleiades07

Peculiarities and variations in the optical spectrum of the post-AGB star V448Lac=IRAS22223+4327

Repeated observations with high spectral resolution acquired in 1998-2008 are used to study the temporal behavior of the spectral line profiles and velocity field in the atmosphere and circumstellar envelope of the post-AGB star V448Lac. Asymmetry of the profiles of the strongest absorption lines with low-level excitation potentials less 1eV and time variations of these profiles have been detected, most prominently the profiles of the resonance lines of BaII, YII, LaII, SiII. The peculiarity of these profiles can be explained using a superposition of stellar absorption line and shell emission lines. Emission in the (0;1) 5635A Swan band of the C2 molecule has been detected in the spectrum of V448Lac for the first time. The core of the Halpha line displays radial velocity variations with an amplitude ~8 km/s. Radial velocity variations displayed by weakest metallic lines with lower amplitudes, 1-2 km/s, may be due to atmospheric pulsations. Differential line shifts, 0 -- 8 km/s, have been detected on various dates. The position of the molecular spectrum is stationary in time, indicating a constant expansion velocity of the circumstellar shell, Vexp=15.2 km/s, as derived from the C2 and NaI lines.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Monte Carlo calculation of the current-voltage characteristics of a two dimensional lattice Coulomb gas

We have studied the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic of a two dimensional lattice Coulomb gas by Monte Carlo simulation. We present three different determinations of the power-law exponent $a(T)$ of the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic, $V \sim I^{a(T)+1}$. The determinations rely on both equilibrium and non-equilibrium simulations. We find good agreement between the different determinations, and our results also agree closely with experimental results for Hg-Xe thin film superconductors and for certain single crystal thin-film high temperature superconductors.Comment: late

Altered Behaviour, Dopamine and Norepinephrine Regulation in Stressed Mice Heterozygous in TPH2 Gene

Gene-environment interaction (GxE) determines the vulnerability of an individual to a spectrum of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Increased impulsivity, excessive aggression, and other behavioural characteristics are associated with variants within the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (Tph2) gene, a key enzyme in brain serotonin synthesis. This phenotype is recapitulated in naïve mice with complete, but not with partial Tph2 inactivation. Tph2 haploinsufficiency in animals reflects allelic variation of Tph2 facilitating the elucidation of respective GxE mechanisms. Recently, we showed excessive aggression and altered serotonin brain metabolism in heterozygous Tph2-deficient male mice (Tph2+/−) after predator stress exposure. Here, we sought to extend these studies by investigating aggressive and anxiety-like behaviours, sociability, and the brain metabolism of dopamine and noradrenaline. Separately, Tph2+/− mice were examined for exploration activity in a novel environment and for the potentiation of helplessness in the modified swim test (ModFST). Predation stress procedure increased measures of aggression, dominancy, and suppressed sociability in Tph2+/− mice, which was the opposite of that observed in control mice. Anxiety-like behaviour was unaltered in the mutants and elevated in controls. Tph2+/− mice exposed to environmental novelty or to the ModFST exhibited increased novelty exploration and no increase in floating behaviour compared to controls, which is suggestive of resilience to stress and despair. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed significant genotype-dependent differences in the metabolism of dopamine, and norepinephrine within the brain tissue. In conclusion, environmentally challenged Tph2+/− mice exhibit behaviours that resemble the behaviour of non-stressed null mutants, which reveals how GxE interaction studies can unmask latent genetically determined predispositions. © 2020 The Authors.The authors' work reported here was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG:CRC TRR58A1/A5), DAAD (to ES), the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant No.602805 (Aggressotype) and the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant No.728018 (Eat2beNICE) (to KPL and TS) and the President's program of PhD Exchange of RF-2017 (to TS and DA). We appreciate the valuable technical help of Natalia Bazhenova, Drs. Alexander Trofimov and Natalia Markova with this project