104 research outputs found
Rules and mechanisms governing octahedral tilts in perovskites under pressure
The rotation of octahedra (octahedral tilting) is common in ABO3 perovskites
and relevant to many physical phenomena, ranging from electronic and magnetic
properties, metal-insulator transitions to improper ferroelectricity.
Hydrostatic pressure is an efficient way to tune and control octahedral
tiltings. However, the pressure behavior of such tiltings can dramatically
differ from one material to another, with the origins of such differences
remaining controversial. In this work, we discover several new mechanisms and
formulate a set of simple rules that allow to understand how pressure affects
oxygen octahedral tiltings, via the use and analysis of first-principles
results for a variety of compounds. Besides the known A-O interactions, we
reveal that the interactions between specific B-ions and oxygen ions contribute
to the tilting instability. We explain the previously reported trend that the
derivative of the oxygen octahedral tilting with respect to pressure (dR/dP)
usually decreases with both the tolerance factor and the ionization state of
the A-ion, by illustrating the key role of A-O interactions and their change
under pressure. Furthermore, three new mechanisms/rules are discovered. We
further predict that the polarization associated with the so-called hybrid
improper ferroelectricity could be manipulated by hydrostatic pressure, by
indirectly controlling the amplitude of octahedral rotations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Re
A Tidal Flare Candidate in Abell 1795
As part of our ongoing archival X-ray survey of galaxy clusters for tidal
flares, we present evidence of an X-ray transient source within 1 arcmin of the
core of Abell 1795. The extreme variability (a factor of nearly 50), luminosity
(> 2 x 10^42 erg s^{-1}), long duration (> 5 years) and supersoft X-ray
spectrum (< 0.1 keV) are characteristic signatures of a stellar tidal
disruption event according to theoretical predictions and to existing X-ray
observations, implying a massive >~10^5 M_sun black hole at the centre of that
galaxy. The large number of X-ray source counts (~700) and long temporal
baseline (~12 years with Chandra and XMM-Newton) make this one of the
best-sampled examples of any tidal flare candidate to date. The transient may
be the same EUV source originally found contaminating the diffuse ICM
observations of Bowyer et al. (1999), which would make it the only tidal flare
candidate with reported EUV observations and implies an early source luminosity
1-2 orders of magnitude greater. If the host galaxy is a cluster member then it
must be a dwarf galaxy, an order of magnitude less massive than the quiescent
galaxy Henize 2-10 which hosts a massive black hole that is difficult to
reconcile with its low mass. The unusual faintness of the host galaxy may be
explained by tidal stripping in the cluster core.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS 2013 July 23. 27 pages, 10 figure
The XXL Survey VIII: MUSE characterisation of intracluster light in a z0.53 cluster of galaxies
Within a cluster, gravitational effects can lead to the removal of stars from
their parent galaxies. Gas hydrodynamical effects can additionally strip gas
and dust from galaxies. The properties of the ICL can therefore help constrain
the physical processes at work in clusters by serving as a fossil record of the
interaction history. The present study is designed to characterise this ICL in
a ~10^14 M_odot and z~0.53 cluster of galaxies from imaging and spectroscopic
points of view. By applying a wavelet-based method to CFHT Megacam and WIRCAM
images, we detect significant quantities of diffuse light. These sources were
then spectroscopically characterised with MUSE. MUSE data were also used to
compute redshifts of 24 cluster galaxies and search for cluster substructures.
An atypically large amount of ICL has been detected in this cluster. Part of
the detected diffuse light has a very weak optical stellar component and
apparently consists mainly of gas emission, while other diffuse light sources
are clearly dominated by old stars. Furthermore, emission lines were detected
in several places of diffuse light. Our spectral analysis shows that this
emission likely originates from low-excitation parameter gas. The stellar
contribution to the ICL is about 2.3x10^9 yrs old even though the ICL is not
currently forming a large number of stars. On the other hand, the contribution
of the gas emission to the ICL in the optical is much greater than the stellar
contribution in some regions, but the gas density is likely too low to form
stars. These observations favour ram pressure stripping, turbulent viscous
stripping, or supernovae winds as the origin of the large amount of
intracluster light. Since the cluster appears not to be in a major merging
phase, we conclude that ram pressure stripping is the most plausible process
that generates the observed ICL sources.Comment: Accepted in A&A, english enhanced, figure location different than in
the A&A version due to different style files, shortened abstrac
Comparison of the properties of two fossil groups of galaxies with the normal group NGC 6034 based on multiband imaging and optical spectroscopy
We collected multiband imaging and spectroscopy for two fossil groups (RX
J1119.7+2126 and 1RXS J235814.4+150524) and one normal group (NGC 6034). We
computed photometric redshifts in the central zones of each group, combining
previous data with the SDSS five-band data. For each group we investigated the
red sequence (RS) of the color-magnitude relation and computed the luminosity
functions, stellar population ages and distributions of the group members.
Spectroscopy allowed us to investigate the large-scale surroundings of these
groups and the substructure levels in 1RXS J235814.4+150524 and NGC 6034. The
large-scale environment of 1RXS J235814.4+150524 is poor, though its galaxy
density map shows a clear signature of the surrounding cosmic web. RX
J1119.7+2126 appears to be very isolated, while the cosmic environment of NGC
6034 is very rich. At the group scale, 1RXS J235814.4+150524 shows no
substructure. Galaxies with recent stellar populations seem preferentially
located in the group outskirts. A RS is discernable for all three groups in a
color-magnitude diagram. The luminosity functions based on photometric redshift
selection and on statistical background subtraction have comparable shapes, and
agree with the few points obtained from spectroscopic redshifts. These
luminosity functions show the expected dip between first and second brightest
galaxies for the fossil groups only. Their shape is also regular and relatively
flat at faint magnitudes down to the completeness level for RX J1119.7+2126 and
NGC 6034, while there is a clear lack of faint galaxies for 1RXS
J235814.4+150524. RX J1119.7+2126 is definitely classified as a fossil group;
1RXS J235814.4+150524 also has properties very close to those of a fossil
group, while we confirm that NGC 6034 is a normal group.Comment: Accepted in A&A, english-improved, 5 jpeg figures, and shortened
abstrac
Microevents produced by gas migration and expulsion at the seabed: A study based on sea bottom recordings from the Sea of Marmara
International audienceDifferent types of 4-component ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) were deployed for variable durations ranging from 1 week to about 4 months in 2007, over soft sediments covering the seafloor of the Tekirdag Basin (western part of the Sea of Marmara, Turkey). Non-seismic microevents were recorded by the geophones, but generally not by the hydrophones, except when the hydrophone is located less than a few tens of centimetres above the seafloor. The microevents are characterized by short durations of less than 0.8 s, by frequencies ranging between 4 and 30 Hz, and by highly variable amplitudes. In addition, no correlation between OBSs was observed, except for two OBSs, located 10 m apart. Interestingly, a swarm of ∼400 very similar microevents (based on principal component analysis) was recorded in less than one day by an OBS located in the close vicinity of an active, gas-prone fault cutting through the upper sedimentary layers. The presence of gas in superficial sediments, together with analogies with laboratory experiments, suggest that gas migration followed by the collapse of fluid-filled cavities or conduits could be the source of the observed microevents. This work shows that OBSs may provide valuable information to improve our understanding of natural degassing processes from the seafloor
High-pressure investigations of CaTiO3 up to 60 GPa using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy
In this work, we investigate calcium titanate (CaTiO3 - CTO) using X-ray
diffraction and Raman spectroscopy up to 60 and 55 GPa respectively. Both
experiments show that the orthorhombic Pnma structure remains stable up to the
highest pressures measured, in contradiction to ab-initio predictions. A fit of
the compression data with a second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state
yields a bulk modulus K0 of 181.0(6) GPa. The orthorhombic distortion is found
to increase slightly with pressure, in agreement with previous experiments at
lower pressures and the general rules for the evolution of perovskites under
pressure. High-pressure polarized Raman spectra also enable us to clarify the
Raman mode assignment of CTO and identify the modes corresponding to rigid
rotation of the octahedra, A-cation shifts and Ti-O bond stretching. The Raman
signature is then discussed in terms of compression mechanisms.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 4 table
Sparkling extreme-ultraviolet bright dots observed with Hi-C
Observing the Sun at high time and spatial scales is a step toward understanding the finest and fundamental scales of heating events in the solar corona. The high-resolution coronal (Hi-C) instrument has provided the highest spatial and temporal resolution images of the solar corona in the EUV wavelength range to date. Hi-C observed an active region on 2012 July 11 that exhibits several interesting features in the EUV line at 193 Å. One of them is the existence of short, small brightenings "sparkling" at the edge of the active region; we call these EUV bright dots (EBDs). Individual EBDs have a characteristic duration of 25 s with a characteristic length of 680 km. These brightenings are not fully resolved by the SDO/AIA instrument at the same wavelength; however, they can be identified with respect to the Hi-C location of the EBDs. In addition, EBDs are seen in other chromospheric/coronal channels of SDO/AIA, which suggests a temperature between 0.5 and 1.5 MK. Based on their frequency in the Hi-C time series, we define four different categories of EBDs: single peak, double peak, long duration, and bursty. Based on a potential field extrapolation from an SDO/HMI magnetogram, the EBDs appear at the footpoints of large-scale, trans-equatorial coronal loops. The Hi-C observations provide the first evidence of small-scale EUV heating events at the base of these coronal loops, which have a free magnetic energy of the order of 1026 erg. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved
Influence of the Magnetic Field Nonuniformity on an X-Band Microstrip Y-Junction Circulator Bandwidth: Theory/Experiment Comparison
Multiple strain-induced phase transitions in LaNiO3 thin films
Strain effects on epitaxial thin films of LaNiO3 grown on different single
crystalline substrates are studied by Raman scattering and first-principles
simulation. New Raman modes, not present in bulk or fully-relaxed films, appear
under both compressive and tensile strains, indicating symmetry reductions.
Interestingly, the Raman spectra and the underlying crystal symmetry for
tensile and compressively strained films are different. Extensive mapping of
LaNiO3 phase stability is addressed by simulations, showing that a variety of
crystalline phases are indeed stabilized under strain which may impact the
electronic orbital hierarchy. The calculated Raman frequencies reproduce the
principal features of the experimental spectra, supporting the validity of the
multiple strain-driven structural transitions predicted by the simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
VIPERS: An Unprecedented View of Galaxies and Large-Scale Structure Halfway Back in the Life of the Universe
The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) is an ongoing ESO
Large Programme to map in detail the large-scale distribution of galaxies at
0.5 < z <1.2. With a combination of volume and sampling density that is unique
for these redshifts, it focuses on measuring galaxy clustering and related
cosmological quantities as part of the grand challenge of understanding the
origin of cosmic acceleration. VIPERS has also been designed to guarantee a
broader legacy, allowing detailed investigations of the properties and
evolutionary trends of z~1 galaxies. The survey strategy exploits the specific
advantages of the VIMOS spectrograph at the VLT, aiming at a final sample of
nearly 100,000 galaxy redshifts to iAB = 22.5 mag, which represents the largest
redshift survey ever performed with ESO telescopes. In this introductory
article we describe the survey construction, together with early results based
on a first sample of ~55,000 galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures; introductory pape
- …